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EMINENT 


ENGLISH  LIBERALS 


IN  AND   OUT   OF  PARLIAMENT. 


BY 

J.  MORRISON  DAVIDSON 

(OP  THE  MIDDLE  TEMPLE), 

BARRISTER-AT-LAW. 


BOSTON : 
JAMES  R.  OSGOOD  AND   COMPANY. 

1880. 


AUTHOR'S  EDITION. 


Sttreeiyptd  and  Printed  by  Rand,  Avery,  &•  Co., 
Boston. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  AMERICAN  EDITION. 


rpHESE  biographic  sketches  of  "Eminent  English 
-*-    Liberals  "   appeared  in  the  old   country  shortly 
before  the  fall  of  the  Beaconsfield  administration. 

That  event  fulfilled  the  hopes  and  anticipations  of 
the  writer  so  completely,  that,  in  preparing  this  edition 
for  the  American  press,  he  has  deemed  it  inexpedient 
to  alter  the  original  text  in  almost  any  particular. 
The  only  important  change  effected  is  one  of  name : 
"  Liberal  "  has  been  substituted  for  "  Radical  "  on  the 
title-page  to  avoid  possible  misinterpretation.  Truly 
regarded,  Americans  and  Englishmen  form  but  one 
mighty  people,  moved  by  common  instincts  and  identical 
interests.  Especially  ought  the  great  contemporary 
thinkers  and  doers  of  both  countries  to  be  made  common 
property ;  and,  should  this  volume  contribute  in  some 
little  measure  towards  so  desirable  an  end,  its  primary 
object  will  have  been  attained. 

J.  M.  D. 
Union  Club,  Boston, 
September,  1880. 

lii 

1524856 


PREFACE  TO  THE  ENGLISH  EDITION. 


rj^HESE  brief  sketches  of  eminent  Eadicals  were 
-■-  originally  contributed  to  the  London  "Weekly 
Dispatch." 

They  were  each  written  at  a  single  spell,  and  it  was 
not  at  first  intended  that  they  should  be  republished. 

They,  however,  attracted  an  attention  gratifying  to 
me  in  proportion  to  its  unexpectedness. 

Many  brother  journalists  and  several  distinguished 
members  of  the  legislature,  whose  judgment  I  was 
bound  to  respect,  iu"ged  reproduction.  Hence  this 
volume,  which  owes  much  to  the  enterprise  of  the 
publishers. 

As  regards  the  sketches  themselves,  their  chief  merit, 
if  they  have  any,  consists  in  this,  that  they  have  not 
been  "written  to  order,"  but  express  as  nearly  as 
possible  the  sentiments  of  the  writer  regarding  twenty- 
four  representative  Radicals,  with  most  of  whom  he  is 
personally  acquainted. 

These  "  Men  of  the  Left "  I  regard  as  the  salt  of  our 

V 


VI  PEEFACE  TO  THE  ENGLISH  EDITION. 

political  world.  Nevertheless,  I  can  say  with  truth, 
that,  if  I  have  set  down  nothing  in  malice,  neither  have 
I  consciously  extenuated  in  aught. 

To  complete  the  roll  of  eminent  Radicals,  at  least  a 
score  of  other  honorable  names  ought  to  be  added. 
"  There  be  of  them  that  have  left  a  name  behind  them, 
that  their  praises  might  be  reported.  And  some  there 
be  that  have  no  memorial ;  but  these  also  were  merci- 
ful men,  whose  righteousness  shall  not  be  forgotten. 
With  their  seed  shall  remain  a  good  inheritance,  and 
their  glory  shall  not  be  blotted  out.  The  people  will 
tell  of  their  wisdom,  and  the  congregation  will  show 
forth  their  praise." 

J.  M.  D. 
6  Pump  Codbt,  Temple,  London, 
January,  1880. 


OOI^TEI^TS. 


EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

Faob 

William  Ewaet  Gladstone 1 

John  Bright 13 

Peter  Alfred  Taylor  . 25 

Sir  Charles  Wentworth  Dilkb      ....  36 

Joseph  Cowen 61 

Sir  Wilfrid  Lawson 64 

Henry  Fawcett 75 

Joseph  Chamberlain 89 

Thomas  Burt 103 

Henry  Richard 115 

Leonard  Henry  Courtney 128 

Anthony  John  Mundella 139 

Charles  Bradlaugh 149 

EMINENT  LIBERALS  OUT  OF  PARLIAMENT. 

John  Morley 167 

Egbert  William  Dale 179 

Joseph  Arch 192 

Edward  Spencer  Beesly 204 

Charles  Haddon  Spubgeon 217 

James  Beal 231 

MoNCURE  Daniel  Conway 241 

James  Allanson  Picton 253 

Frederick  Augustus  Maxse 263 

The  Hon.  Auberon  Herbert 275 

Edward  Augustus  Freeman 288 

vii 


EMDfENT  ENGLISH  LIBERALS. 


I. 

WILLIAM  EWART   GLADSTONE. 

"  Hia  strength  is  as  the  strength  of  ten, 
Because  his  heart  is  pure." 

MR.  GLADSTONE  has  himself  defined  a  Radical 
politician  as  a  Liberal  who  "is  in  earnest."  I 
thankfully  accept  the  definition,  and  unhesitatingly 
place  his  honored  name  at  the  head  of  this  series  of 
biographical  sketches  of  eminent  Radicals.  He  is, 
and  has  ever  been,  pre-eminently  in  earnest, — in  ear- 
nest, not  for  himself,  but  for  the  common  weal.  The 
addition,  "for  the  commonweal,"  is  essential  to  the 
definition  ;  for  time  was,  of  course,  when  Mr.  Gladstone 
was  not  numbered  with  eminent  Radicals,  but  with  emi- 
nent Tories,  whose  characteristic  it  is,  if  they  are  in 
earnest  at  all,  to  be  in  earnest  chiefl^^  for  themselves  or 
the  interests  of  their  class.  Of  this  latter  reprehensible 
form  of  earnestness,  I  venture  to  affirm  Mr.  Gladstone 
has  at  no  time  been  guilty.  While  3'et  in  his  misdirected 
3^outh  among  the  Tories,  he  was  never  really  of  them. 

"  He  only  in  a  general,  honest  thought, 
And  common  good  to  all,  made  one  of  them." 

1 


2  EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

The  circumstances  of  his  birth  and  education  almost 
necessarilj'  determined  that  he  should  enter  public  life 
as  "the  rising  hope"  of  Toryism.  The  strength, 
candor,  generosit}^  and  innate  nobilitj'  of  his  nature 
have  with  equally  irresistible  force  made  his  whole  sub- 
sequent career  a  slow  but  sure  process  of  repudiation 
of  ever}'^  thing  that  Tories  hold  dear.  Forty-six  j'ears 
ago,  when  he  entered  Parliament  for  Newark  as  the 
nominee  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  he  was  the  hope  of 
the  High  Tory  part}' ;  to-da^^  he  is  the  hope  of  the 
undaunted  Radicalism  of  England,  which,  despite  Con- 
servative re-actions  and  Whig  infidelities,  knows  nothing 
of  defeat;  which  in  adversity,  like  Milton,  —  blind  and 
fallen  on  evil  times,  —  "bates  not  a  jot  of  heart  or 
hope,  but  steers  right  onwards."  Old  as  he  is,  his 
true  place  is  where  he  is,  —  at  the  helm  of  the  Radical 
bayque.     Who  can  foresee  himself  ? 

William  Ewart  Gladstone  is  the  fourth  son  of  Sir 
John  Gladstone  of  Fasque,  Kincardineshire,  first  baro- 
net. He  was  born  on  the  29th  of  December,  1809,  at 
Liver^jool,  where  his  father,  who  had  originally  come 
from  Leith,  was  then  famous  as  a  successful  merchant, 
and  as  an  influential  friend  and  partisan  of  Canning. 
The  name  was  originally  spelt  Gladstanes  or  Gledstanes  ; 
gled  being  Lowland  Scottish  for  a  hawk,  and  stanes 
meaning  rocks.  It  is  still  not  uncommon  in  many  parts 
of  rural  Scotland  to  call  a  man  by  the  place  of  his  abode 
at  the  expense  of  his  proper  patronymic.  In  earlier 
times  such  local  appellations  often  adhered  permanently 
to  individuals,  and  it  is  to  this  process  that  the  Glad- 
stone family  is  indebted  for  its  name. 

The  Premier's  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Mr. 
Andrew  Robertson,  Provost  of  Dingwall,  whose  descent 


WILLIAM  EWART   GLADSTONE.  3 

the  credulous  Burke  traces  from  Robert  Bruce,  the 
patriot  King  of  Scotland.  Be  this  as  it  may,  Mr. 
Gladstone  is  of  pure  Scottish  blood,  —  a  fact  of  which 
he  has  oftener  than  once  expressed  himself  proud. 
Indeed,  the  perfervidum  ingenium  Scotorum  is  his  in  a 
remarkable  degree ;  and  it  has  its  influence  on  public 
opinion  across  the  border,  notwithstanding  his  English 
training  and  his  antipathetic  High-Churchism.  How- 
ever P^ngland  may  abase  herself  before  the  gorgeous 
Lord  Benjingo,  Scotland  will  never  turn  her  back  on 
the  undecorated  Gladstone.  There  lives  not  a  Scots- 
man that  is  not  inwardly  proud  of  him ;  for  blood  is, 
after  all,  thicker  than  water.  Evicted  from  one  English 
constituency  after  another  for  his  devotion  to  Liberal 
principles,  there  is  a  sort  of  "  fitness  of  things,"  not 
without  a  certain  pathos,  in  the  gallant  and  successful 
effort  which  the  country  of  his  forefathers  has  made  to 
seize  a  seat  for  him  from  between  the  teeth  of  the  great 
feudal  despot  of  the  North,  "  the  bold  Buccleuch," 

From  a  verj^  tender  age  young  Gladstone  exhibited  a 
wonderful  aptitude  for  learning,  and  an  almost  super- 
human industry,  which  age,  instead  of  abating,  seem- 
ingly increases.  His  dail}-  autograph  correspondence 
with  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  conducted  chiefl}'  by 
the  much-derided  post-card,  would  afford  ample  employ- 
ment for  about  six  Somerset  House  clerks  working  at 
their  usual  pace.  He  possesses,  I  should  sa}',  without 
exception,  the  most  omnivorous  and  untiring  brain  in 
England,  —  possibly  in  the  whole  world.  No  wonder 
that  his  course  at  Eton  and  at  Oxford  was  marked  by 
the  highest  distinction.  A  student  of  Christ  Church, 
he  graduated  "  double  first  "  in  his  twenty-second  j'ear, 
a  superlative  master  of  the  language  and  literature  of 


4  EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

Greece  and  Rome.  He  availed  himself  of  every  advan- 
tage the  university  could  bestow  ;  and,  unlike  most  other 
scholars  who  subsequently  become  politicians  and  men 
of  the  world,  he  has  never  ceased  to  add  to  the  immense 
store  of  his  academic  acquirements.  He  has  published 
Latin  sacred  verses  not  appreciably  inferior  in  grace  to 
•those  of  Buchanan  and  Milton;  and  as  a  Homeric 
student  his  "  Studies  of  Homer  and  the  Homeric  Age  " 
entitle  him  to  no  mean  place  among  scholarly  critics. 

Unfortunately,  however,  for  him,  the  sciences  of 
observation  —  chemistry,  botany,  geology,  natural 
historj',  and  the  like  —  were  in  his  day  almost  whollj' 
neglected  at  Oxford  ;  and  in  place  thereof  an  incredible 
mind-distorting  theology  was  in  vogue,  from  the  evil 
consequences  of  which  the  Premier  has  not  yet  been 
able  altogether  to  emancipate  himself.  It  has  laid  him 
open  to  many  false  charges,  and  to  some  true  ones.  It 
made  him  for  j^ears  a  defender  of  the  utterly  indefensi- 
ble Irish  Establishment;  and,  when  at  last  "  the  slow 
and  resistless  force  of  conviction  "  brought  him  to  a 
better  frame  of  mind,  the  change  was  attributed  by 
thousands  who  ought  to  have  known  better  to  a  con- 
cealed conversion  to  Romanism.  In  vain  has  he  striven 
in  pamphlet  and  periodical  to  rebut  the  allegation,  and 
to  make  intelligible  to  the  English  people  his  theologi- 
cal stand-point.  Newman,  Manning,  Capel,  —  the  most 
redoubtable  chamj^ions  of  Roman  Catholicism  in  Eng- 
land,—  he  has  met  foot  to  foot  and  hand  to  hand  on 
their  own  ground,  and  foiled  with  their  own  weapons. 
He  has  proved,  with  amazing  learning  and  ingenuity, 
worthy  of  the  schoolmen,  that  the  Papacy  has  at  last 
succeeded  in  "  repudiating  both  science  and  history," 
and  that  his  Holiness  himself  is  next  door  to  Antichrist. 


WILLIAM  EWART   GLADSTONE.  5 

He,  a  simple  layman,  has  demonstrated  that  he  is  one 
of  the  greatest  theologians  of  the  age.  Still,  much  as 
I  admire  learning  in  every  department  of  human  intelli- 
gence, I  must  confess  that  I  should  have  liked  Mr. 
Gladstone  better  had  he  been  more  of  a  Gallio  in  such 
matters.  One  would  almost  as  soon  see  a  noble  intel- 
lect like  his  exercising  itself  about  the  exploded  theo- 
ries of  the  astrologists  or  alchemists,  as  about  the 
decisions  of  church  councils,  early  or  late. 

His  personal  rehgion  is,  however,  altogether  another 
matter.  It  is  the  chief  source  of  his  overpowering 
sense  of  duty,  of  his  righteous  indignation,  of  his 
tender  humanity.  He  is  as  much  a  Christian  statesman 
as  Pj'm,  Sir  Harry  Vane,  or  Oliver  Cromwell.  His 
unaffected  piet}^  has  opened  up  to  him  the  hearts  of 
his  Nonconformist  fellow-countrymen  as  nothing  else 
could  have  done.  Where  he  is  best  known  he  is  most 
esteemed  ;  viz.,  at  his  seat  of  Hawarden,  —  a  fine  prop- 
erty bought  by  his  wife's  ancestor.  Sergeant  Glynne, 
chief  justice  to  Oliver  Cromwell,  on  the  sequestration 
of  the  Stanley  estates,  after  the  execution  of  James,  the 
seventh  Earl  of  Derby.  Every  morning  by  eight  o'clock 
Mr.  Gladstone  may  be  seen  wending  his  way  to  the 
village  church  of  Hawarden  to  engage  in  matins  as  a 
prelude  to  the  work  of  the  da}'.  Even  when  Prime 
Minister  of  England,  he  has  been  found  in  the  hum- 
blest homes  reading  to  the  sick  or  dying  consolatory 
passages  of  Scripture  in  his  own  soft  melodious  tones. 

The  best  controller  of  the  national  exchequer  that 
the  country  has  ever  had,  his  personal  charities  are 
almost  reckless.  In  the  course  of  his  long  walks  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Hawarden,  his  pockets  have  an 
astonishing  knack  of  emptying  themselves  ;  and  amus- 


6  EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

ing  stories  are  told  of  his  having  had  to  walk  home 
inconvenient  distances  of  ten  and  twelve  miles  in  the 
dark  because  of  his  inability'  to  raise  so  much  as  a  third- 
class  railway  fare.  As  Prime  Minister  he  refused  an 
increase  of  salary ;  and  when  he  quitted  office  he  was 
so  impoverished,  that  his  famous  collection  of  china  is 
said  to  have  been  sold  in  consequence. 

All  his  known  habits  and  recreations  are  of  the  most 
innocent  and  healthy  kind.  He  has  nothing  either  of 
the  jockey  or  the  gamekeeper  in  his  composition,  —  a 
fact  which  ma^'  account  for  a  good  deal  of  the  antipathy 
exhibited  towards  him  by  the  enlightened  squirearchy 
of  England.  Yet  Mr.  Gladstone  has  none  of  the  "  lean 
and  hungry'  look"  of  a  Cassius.  He  is  not  a  total 
abstainer ;  but  he  is  next  door.  His  is  pre-eminently 
a  mens  sana  in  corpore  sano.  As  is  well  known,  he  is 
one  of  the  most  stalworth  tree-fellers  in  England.  His 
skill  with  his  axe  would  not  disgrace  a  Canadian  back- 
woodsman ;  and  he  has  curious  taste  in  carving  and 
potter}',  which  is  almost  scientific. 

Never  was  there  a  public  man  whose  private  "rec- 
ord "  has  been  more  blameless.  In  his  zeal  for  domes- 
tic purity,  he  has  not  hesitated  to  rebuke  the  "  conjugal 
infidelity  "  which,  since  the  death  of  the  Prince  Consort, 
has  developed  itself  in  close  proximit}'  to  the  throne. 
In  a  word,  he  is  a  Christian  statesman,  with  all  the 
advantages  and  disadvantages  which  adhere  to  that 
character. 

Let  me  now  say  a  word  of  his  renown  as  an  orator. 
As  a  speaker  I  should  be  disposed  to  place  him  midwa}' 
between  Bright  at  his  best  and  Beaconsfield  at  an}' 
time.  For  moral  earnestness  Mr.  Bright  is  not  his 
inferior ;  and  in  the  command  of  pathos,  humor,  clear- 


WILLIAM  EWART  GLADSTONE.  7 

cut  thoughts,  and  chaste,  limpid  English,  he  is  un- 
doubtedly his  superior.  On  the  other  hand,  in  versa- 
tility, in  capacity-  for  receiving  new  ideas,  and  of 
marshalhug  multitudinous  details,  Mr.  Gladstone  has 
no  living  equal.  He  is  the  orator  of  affairs.  He  has 
done  what  no  one  has  ever  done  before  him,  —  made 
budgets  eloquent,  and  figures  to  possess  a  lofty  moral 
significance. 

Lord  Beaconsfield  unquestionably  possesses  in  an 
eminent  degree  some  of  the  first  requisites  of  oratory. 
He  is  more  wittj',  more  ornate,  and  more  audacious 
than  Mr.  Gladstone  ;  but  all  is  spoiled  by  levity,  hope- 
less inaccuracy,  and,  I  fear,  essential  insincerity.  "  Can 
there  be,"  Mr.  Carl^'le  has  asked,  "  a  more  horrid 
object  in  creation  than  an  eloquent  man  not  speaking 
the  truth?"  Was  it  "the  cool,  conscious  juggler," 
the  "miraculous  Premier"  of  yesterda}',  that  the 
Prophet  of  Chelsea  had  in  his  mind's  eye  when,  j^ears 
ago,  I  heard  him  put  this  important  inteiTOgatory  on 
the  occasion  of  his  rectorial  address  to  the  students  of 
Edinburgh  Universitj' ?    Again,  I  fear,  yes, 

Mr.  Gladstone's  oratory  is  maiTed  b}'  excessive 
copiousness  of  diction  ;  jei  there  is  a  charm  in  this  rare 
defect.  He  plunges  right  into  a  sea  of  words,  from 
which  there  seems  no  possible  extrication  ;  and,  when 
he  emerges  safe  and  sound,  his  hearers  feel  like  those 
who,  "in  the  brave  da3-s  of  old,"  beheld  Horatius 
"  plunge  headlong  in  the  tide  :  "  — 

"  And  when  above  the  surges 
They  saw  his  crest  appear, 
All  Rome  sent  forth  a  rapturous  cry; 
And  even  the  ranks  of  Tuscany 
Could  scarce  forbear  to  cheer." 


8  EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

Mr.  Gladstone's  Conduct  as  a  parliamentary  leader 
has  been  severely  censured  by  professed  Liberals,  and 
his  resolution  to  dissolve  Parliament  in  1874  has  been 
specially  instanced  as  a  proof  of  strategic  unwisdom. 
I  distinctly  demur  both  to  indictment  and  proof.  Those 
who  say  that  he  is  not  a  good  leader  are  not  "  in  ear- 
nest," and  such  men  can  never  be  expected  to  follow 
Mr.  Gladstone  with  much  comfort  to  themselves.  He 
is  the  natural  leader  of  the  Advanced  Liberals  in  the 
House.  The  Brights,  Dilkes,  Chamberlains,  Tajlors, 
and  Courtne3's  find  no  difficulty  in  following  his  lead. 
As  for  the  dissolution  of  1874,  so  much  complained  of, 
no  Liberal  Minister  professing  to  govern,  as  every 
Liberal  Minister  is  supposed  to  do,  in  accordance  with 
the  will  of  the  people,  could,  in  the  face  of  the  adverse 
by-elections  which  had  taken  place,  honestly  refrain 
from  directly  appealing  to  the  constituent  authority. 
Indeed,  the  pity  is,  it  seems  to  me,  that  the  appeal  was 
not  made  sooner.  If  that  had  been  done,  all  might 
have  been  well.  The  Conservative  re-action,  wliich 
gave  birth  to  Jingo  and  so  many  soitows,  might  have 
been  nipped  in  the  bud. 

It  remains  to  notice  in  very  brief  compass  a  few 
of  the  more  important  events  in  the  Premier's  public 
life,  giving  preference  to  the  more  remote.  In  1832 
he  was  returned  for  Newark  in  the  Conservative  inter- 
est, and  in  1834  Sir  Robert  Peel  made  him  a  Junior 
Lord  of  the  Treasury.  In  1835  he  found  himself 
Under-Secretary  for  the  Colonies.  Shortly  after,  Sir 
Robert's  administration  fell ;  and  Mr.  Gladstone,  in  the 
cool  shade  of  opposition,  found  leisure  to  write  his  oft- 
quoted  works,  "The  State  in  its  Relations  with  the 
Church,"  and  "  Church  Principles  considered  in  their 


WILLIAM  EWART   GLADSTONE.  9 

Results."  Lord  Macaulaj-,  in  "The  Edinburgh  Re- 
view," thus  spoke  the  judgment  of  posterity:  "We 
dissent  from  his  opinions ;  but  we  admire  his  talents. 
We  respect  his  integrity  and  benevolence,  and  we  hope 
that  he  will  not  suffer  political  avocations  so  entirely  to 
engross  him  as  to  leave  him  no  leisure  for  literature  and 
philosophy." 

In  those  daj^s  Mr.  Gladstone  held  the  untenable  doc- 
trine that  it  is  the  business  of  the  State  to  uphold 
"  the  true  religion."  He  ardently  strove  to  find  for  the 
State  Church  a  moral  basis  and  justification  which  it 
can  never  have.  In  so  doing  he  was  "in  earnest," 
but  oblivious  of  the  wisdom  of  One  who  understood 
the  genius  of  Christianity  better  than  himself :  ' '  My 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  world."  Since  then  "  the  slow 
and  resistless  force  of  conviction  "  has  come  to  his  aid. 

In  1841  Sir  Robert  Peel  came  back  to  office,  and  Mr. 
Gladstone  was  made  Vice-President  of  the  Board  of 
Trade.  In  1843  he  became  President  of  the  Board, 
and  for  the  first  time  his  wonderful  genius  as  an  admin- 
istrator had  full  scope.  In  1845  he  resigned  office 
rather  than  be  a  party  to  adding  to  the  endowments  of 
the  Romanist  college  of  Maynooth,  Ireland,  which  he 
had  condemned  in  his  work  on  "Church  and  State." 
Shiel  wittily  remarked  that  "  the  statesman  had  been 
sacrificed  to  the  author."  In  point  of  fact,  his  resig- 
nation is  a  standing  rebuke  to  those  who  have  basely 
accused  him  of  place-hunting. 

From  this  time  onwards  Mr.  Gladstone  exhibited,  in 
increasing  measure  and  in  numerous  ways,  his  leaning 
towards  Liberal  opinions.  Canningite  and  Oxford 
influences  began  to  lose  their  hold  over  him.  "I 
trace,"  he  said  at  Oxford  in  December,  1878,  "in  the 


10         EMINENT  LIBEBALS  IN  PAKLIAMENT. 

education  of  Oxford  of  my  own  time  one  great  defect. 
Perhaps  the  fault  was  mine :  but  I  must  admit  that  I 
did  not  learn,  when  at  Oxford,  that  which  I  have 
learned  since;  viz.,  to  set  a  due  value  on  the  imper- 
ishable and  inestimable  principles  of  human  liberty." 
In  the  budget  of  1845  he  defended  a  proposal  to 
put  slave-grown  sugar  on  a  less  favorable  footing 
than  free ;  and,  when  the  corn-law  question  became  a 
' '  burning ' '  one,  he  resigned  his  seat  for  Newark  because 
of  the  anti-repeal  views  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle.  His 
powerful  pen  was,  however,  at  the  service  of  the  re- 
pealers ;  and,  when  the  battle  was  fought  and  won,  he 
was  returned  in  1847  for  the  Universit}'  of  Oxford. 
He  was  still,  of  course,  nominally  a  Tory  ;  but  one  of 
his  first  acts  was  to  support  the  removal  of  Jewish 
disabilities,  to  the  confusion  of  many  of  those  whose 
"  rising  hope  "  he  was  still  supposed  to  be. 

In  the  session  of  1849  he  made  a  powerful  speech  in 
favor  of  the  reform  of  our  colonial  poUcy,  from  which 
much  benefit  has  indirectly  flowed  to  the  colonies. 

In  1851  "  circumstances  purely  domestic  "  took  him 
to  Naples,  and  there  his  humanity  was  stirred  to  its 
very  core  by  the  unheard-of  brutalities  of  King  Bomba. 
His  passionate  cry  for  redress  resounded  throughout 
the  ciA^lized  world  :  "  I  have  seen  and  heard  the  strong 
and  true  expression  used,  '  This  is  the  negation  of  God 
erected  into  a  system  of  government.'  "  For  once 
Lord  Pahnerston  was  on  the  side  of  justice,  and  the 
sword  of  Garibaldi  eventually  wrought  out  for  the  Nea- 
politans the  just  vengeance  which  Mr.  Gladstone  had 
invoked  on  their  tjTants. 

In  the  administration  of  1859,  Mr.  Gladstone,  as 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  was  instrumental  in  the 


WILLIAM  EWAKT   GLADSTONE.  11 

repeal  of  the  paper  duty,  and  in  contracting  the  com- 
mercial treaty  with  France.  Of  his  remission  of  taxes 
and  reductions  of  the  national  debt,  it  is  unnecessary  to 
speak.  They  are  achievements  engraved  with  an  iron 
pen  on  the  financial  records  of  his  country. 

Two  great  questions,  and  two  only,  of  his  time  has 
he  completely  misjudged, — the  Crimean  war  and  the 
American  war.  Of  the  first  he  was,  to  some  extent, 
particeps  criminis;  and,  with  regard  to  the  latter,  a  sin- 
gularly rash  and  hostile  utterance  by  implication  num- 
bered him  with  the  friends  of  secession.  For  the  for- 
mer he  has  atoned  by  his  late  almost  superhuman  efforts 
to  prevent  its  recurrence ;  and  for  the  latter  there  is 
ample  compensation  in  our  wisest  international  act,  the 
Alabama  arbitration.  It  is  no  small  misfortune  that, 
in  the  course  of  his  busy  life,  Mr.  Gladstone  has  never 
found  time  to  visit  the  generous  land  of  ' '  our  kin  be- 
yond the  sea."  Such  an  experience  would  have  taught 
him  that  it  is  better  to  be  enshrined  in  the  heart  of  a 
great  people  than  to  obtain  the  favor  of  all  the  courts 
and  courtiers  in  Chiistendom. 

Of  the  mighty  impulse  which  he  gave  to  the  move- 
ment which  ended  in  household  suffrage  being  conferred 
on  "our  own  flesh  and  blood,"  of  the  imperishable 
achievements  of  his  ministry  of  1868  in  passing  the  Bal- 
lot Act  and  the  Education  Act,  in  abolishing  purchase 
in  the  armj',  and,  above  all,  in  disestablishing  the 
Church  of  Ireland  and  reforming  in  some  measure  the 
land  laws  of  that  unhappy  country,  what  need  to  speak? 
To  no  Englishman  of  our  time  has  it  been  given  to 
perform  such  eminent  service  to  his  country  and  to 
mankind.  His  Radicalism,  commencing  to  meander 
more  than  forty  years  ago  among  the  stony  uplands  of 


12  EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

Toryism,  is  now,  as  the  limit  of  life  is  approached,  a 
majestic  river,  whose  ample  flood  will  never  be  stinted 
or  stayed  till  it  is  lost  in  the  ocean  of  eternity. 

At  the  general  election  of  1874  the  British  Philistine 
was  fat,  and  kicked.  The  constituencies  deliberately 
cried  out,  "  Not  this  man,  but  Barabbas  !  "  Is  it  ne- 
cessary to  add  the  emphatic,  "  Now,  Barabbas  was  a 
robber"?  But  since  then  many  things,  as  Earl  Bea- 
consfield  would  say,  have  happened.  The  general  elec- 
tion of  1880  reversed  the  verdict  of  1874  with  a  deci- 
siveness that  fairly  astonished  all  parties.  In  opposi- 
tion, though  no  longer  ostensible  leader  of  the  Liberal 
host,  Mr.  Gladstone  had  evinced  a  moral  grandeur  and 
an  intellectual  vigor  never  equalled  by  any  British  states- 
man ;  and  on  all  hands  he  was  felt  to  be  the  man  of  a 
very  difficult  situation,  of  which  the  end  is  not  j-et. 
In  proportion  as  he  succeeds  or  fails  will  be  the  nation's 
gain  or  loss.  In  any  case,  if  he  has  not  done  enough 
for  humanity,  —  if  he  h'as  still,  as  he  says,  a  whole 
catalogue  of  "unredeemed  pledges"  to  submit, — he 
has  done  enough,  and  more  than  enough,  to  enshrine  his 
name  imperishably  in  the  hearts  of  all  good  men :  — 

"  His  life  was  gentle;  and  the  elements 
So  mixed  in  him,  that  Nature  might  stand  up, 
And  say  to  all  the  world,  This  was  a  Manl " 


n. 

JOHN  BRIGHT. 

Thou  art  e'en  as  just  a  man 
As  e'er  my  conversation  coped  withal." 

THERE  is  a  quaint  passage  in  "  Ecclesiasticus " 
which  expresses  better  than  any  thing  I  can  think 
of  mj"  conception  of  the  way  in  which  Mr.  Bright  will 
be  regarded  by  a  not  distant  posterity.  "  Let  us  praise 
famous  men,"  it  nms,  "  and  our  fathers  that  begat  us. 
God  hath  wrought  great  glory  by  them  through  His 
great  power  from  the  beginning ;  men  renowned  for 
their  power  giving  counsel  by  their  understanding,  and 
declaring  prophecies ;  leaders  of  the  people  by  their 
counsels  and  by  their  knowledge  meet  for  the  people, 
wise  and  eloquent  in  their  instructions  ;  rich  men  fur- 
nished with  ability,  living  peaceably  in  their  habita- 
tions." "All  these,"  it  is  added,  "were  honored  in 
their  generations,  and  were  the  glory  of  their  times." 
And,  assuredly,  if  characteristics  such  as  these  apper- 
tain to  any  man  of  our  daj-  and  generation,  it  is  to 
John  Bright.  What  leader  of  the  people  has  given 
wiser  counsel,  more  eloquent  instruction,  —  nay,  de- 
clared more  prophecies  ?  As  applied  to  him,  the  title  of 
Right  Honorable  is,  for  a  wonder,  fully  deserved.  It 
fits  like  a  glove.  From  the  beginning  of  his  career 
until  now  "great  glory  has  been  wrought  by  him," 

13 


14  EMINENT   LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

and  that,  too,  "  through  His  great  power,"  Mr.  Bright 
would  be  the  first  to  postulate. 

Least  of  all  our  public  men  is  the  illustrious  tribune 
of  the  people  an  adventurer,  self-seeker,  or  demagogue. 
I  do  not  know  that  he  can  be  described  as  a  "  rich  " 
man.  "  Riches  "  is  a  specially  comparative  term  in  this 
aristocracy-ridden  land ;  but  certainly  the  anti-corn 
law  agitation  found  him  a  well-to-do  man,  "furnished 
with  ability,  living  peaceably  in  his  habitation"  at 
Rochdale,  where  he  might  have  remained  to  this  day 
hardl}'  distinguishable  from  the  mass  of  his  fellow-citi- 
zens, had  he  not  had  what,  in  the  phraseology  of  Puri- 
tanism, is  named  a  "call."  He  was  at  the  mill,  as 
Elisha  was  at  the  plough,  when  the  divine  messenger 
laid  hold  of  him  in  the  guise  of  a  gaunt,  starving  mul- 
titude, for  whose  wrongs  he  was  imperatively  com- 
manded to  seek  redress  at  the  hands  of  a  heartless  and 
stupid  legislature.  The  corn  laws  repealed,  the  hori- 
zon of  his  public  duties  widened  ;  but  the  spirit  in  which 
he  has  continued  to  act  has  remained  the-  same.  He  is 
the  great  Puritan  statesman  of  England,  ever  con- 
sciously living,  as  did  his  favorite  poet  Milton,  "  in  his 
great  Taskmaster's  eye."  This  is  the  key  to  his  sim- 
ple but  grand  character,  as  it  is  to  that  of  the  much 
more  complex  Gladstone,  —  a  singular  fact,  certainly, 
in  view  of  the  grave  doubts  now  entertained  in  so  many 
not  incompetent  quarters  with  respect  to  the  objective 
reality  of  all  religious  beliefs. 

Mr.  Bright  has  completed  his  sixty-eighth  j^ear,  hav- 
ing been  born  in  1811,  in  his  father's  house  at  Green- 
bank,  near  Rochdale.  Needless  to  say  his  ancestors 
did  noi  "come  over  at  the  Conquest."  So  far  as  is 
known,  there  is  not  a  single  "  de  "  among  them.     The 


JOHN  BEIGHT.  15 

first  discoverable  local  habitation  of  the  Brights  is  a 
place  still  called  "  Bright' s  Farm,"  near  Lyneham,  in 
Wiltshire.  Here,  in  1714,  a  certain  Abraham  Bright 
married  Martha  Jacobs,  a  handsome  Jewess ;  and 
shortly  afterwards  the  couple  removed  to  Coventry, 
where  Abraham  begat  William  Bright,  who  begat 
Jacob,  who  begat  Jacob  junior,  who,  coming  to  Roch- 
dale in  1796,  was  espoused  to  Martha  Wood,  the 
daughter  of  a  respectable  tradesman  of  Bolton-le- 
Moors,  and  became  in  due  course  the  father  of  John 
the  Great,  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

Mr.  Bright's  ancestry  abounds  in  Abrahams  and 
Jacobs,  Marthas  and  Marys.  He  has  a  sort  of  vested 
interest  in  scriptural  characters  and  scriptural  knowl- 
edge, which  comes  as  instinctively  to  him  as  fox-hunting 
to  a  squire  of  the  county.  He  is  a  hereditary  Noncon- 
formist ;  nearlj'  all  his  relatives,  as  is  well  known,  being 
members  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  He  may  be  said 
to  have  been  born  resisting  church  rates.  His  father, 
a  most  estimable  man,  could  never  be  induced  to  pay 
them,  and  was,  in  consequence,  as  familiar  with  execu- 
tion warrants  as  with  the  pages  of  his  ledger.  Not  a 
bad  example,  assured^,  for  a  youthful  people's  tribune  ! 
Bright  the  elder  had  started  life  as  a  poor  but  honest 
weaver,  working,  as  his  right  honorable  son  has  told  all 
the  world,  for  six  shillings  a  week  !  In  1809  he  took 
an  old  mill  named  Greenbank.  Some  Manchester 
friends  who  had  confidence  in  his  intelligence  and  integ- 
rity supplied  the  capital ;  and,  by  the  time  that  the  ex- 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  had  attained  years  of 
discretion,  the  family  were  in  easy  circumstances.  The 
business  has  since  been  much  developed ;  but  the  knowl- 
edge that  Mr.  Bright,  from  the  first,  possessed  a  sub- 


16  EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

stantial  "stake  in  the  country,"  has  given  a  cogency 
to  his  more  Radical  and  humanitarian  opinions  in  the 
eyes  of  the  middle  class,  which  no  amount  of  mere 
argument  could  have  ever  supplied. 

Was  Mr.  Bright  equally  happy  in  his  education? 
The  question  is  one  of  great  difficulty ;  but,  on  the 
whole,  I  am  disposed  to  think  he  was.  True,  he  did  not 
learn  much  at  the  Friends'  schools  which  he  frequented ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  —  unlike  Mr,  Gladstone,  with 
his  great  academic  acquirements, — he  learned  noth- 
ing which  it  has  been  necessary  for  him,  by  a  pain- 
ful process,  to  unlearn.  If,  like  Shakespeare,  he 
"  knows  little  Latin  and  less  Greek,"  he  knows  uncom- 
monly well  how  to  do  without  them.  At  the  Ackworth 
and  York  schools  his  heart  was  cultivated,  if  his  head 
was  not  crammed.  The  foundations  were  laid  deep 
and  strong  of  a  placid,  free,  wise,  and  upright  man- 
hood. "  Knowledge  comes,  but  wisdom  lingers."  It 
was  the  educational  aim  of  the  friends  of  Bright 's 
childhood  to  instil  wisdom  first,  and  to  leave  knowl- 
edge pretty  much  to  take  care  of  itself.  I  do  not  like 
to  contemplate  what  might  have  happened  to  Mr.  Bright 
if  he  had  gone  to  Eton  and  to  Oxford  with  Mr.  Glad- 
stone, and  drunk  in  all  the  pernicious  ecclesiastical  and 
political  nonsense  which  the  Premier  imbibed  in  his  mis- 
directed youth.  Mr.  Gladstone  has  survived  Oxford, 
and  come  out  clothed  and  in  his  right  mind ;  but  it  is 
highly  doubtful  if  Mr.  Bright  would  have  been  equally 
fortunate.  He  is  by  temperament  a  ConseiTative,  who 
has  been  singularly  faithful  to  all  the  ideas  with  which 
he  stai-tcd  in  life.  What  he  is  to-day  he  was  fortj'-five 
jears  ago.  His  principles  are  far-reaching,  and  suscep- 
tible of  varied  application ;   but  I  venture  to  affirm, 


JOHN   BRIGHT.  17 

that,  if  they  were  once  realized,  he  would  be  about  the 
last  man  in  England  to  find  new  ones.  He  is  the  incar- 
nation of  Quakerism,  summing  up  in  his  own  person  all 
its  noble  law  and  all  its  prophets.  The  sect  which  has 
been  numerically  so  weak  and  morally  so  strong  will 
never  produce  another  such.  Its  theory  of  the  public 
good,  though  perhaps  the  highest  of  any,  is  limited 
after  all. 

One  part  of.  Mr.  Bright's  education  which  was  not 
neglected,  and  which  has  been  to  him  from  boyhood  a 
source  of  real  inspiration,  I  ought  not  to  overlook ;  viz. , 
his  study  of  the  great  poets.  He  has  a  genius  for  ap- 
propriate quotation  ;  and,  if  I  might  give  a  hint  to  my 
young  readers,  let  me  recommend  them  to  verify,  as  oc- 
casion offers,  the  sources  from  which  he  draws.  They 
wUl  be  well  repaid  for  the  trouble. 

Like  most  generous  and  humane  natures,  he  is  fond 
of  the  lower  animals,  more  especially  of  dogs  ;  but  his 
canine,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  are  not  equal  to  his  unerring 
poetic,  instincts.  In  this  respect  he  is  not  much  above 
the  shockingly  low  average  taste  of  Lancashire.  In 
his  youth  he  was  a  good  footbaU-player,  a  smart  crick- 
eter, an  expert  swimmer,  and  diuing  a  period  of  con- 
valescence, more  than  twent}"  j^ears  ago,  he  acquired 
the  art  of  salmon-fishing,  which  he  has  since,  for  rec- 
reative reasons  chiefly,  brought  to  considerable  perfec- 
tion. He  is  a  total  abstainer ;  and  what  with  a  steady 
hand,  a  quick  eye,  and  indomitable  patience,  few  better 
amateur  anglers  appear  on  the  Spey. 

He  is  a  charming  companion,  with  a  weakness  for 
strolling  into  billiard-rooms.  Once  at  Llandudno,  the 
story  goes,  he  played  in  a  public  billiard-room  with  a 
stranger,  who  turned  out  to  be  a  truculent  Tory  manu- 


18         EMTINENT  LIBERALS   IN   PAELIAJIENT. 

facturer  from  Yorkshire.  While  the  game  was  proceed- 
ing, the  Yorkshireman's  wife  chanced  to  ask  some  of 
the  hotel  attendants  how  her  husband  was  engaged, 
and  was  beside  herself  with  alarm  on"  learning  that  he 
was  in  the  company  of  one  against  whom  she  had  so 
often  heard  him  express  the  most  bloodthirsty  senti- 
ments. "Are  they  fighting?"  she  asked,  and  could 
with  difficulty  be  pursuaded  that  no  altercation  was 
going  on.  About  a  couple  of  hours  afterwards  the  hus- 
band tiu-ned  up,  rubbing  his  hands,  and  told  his  wife 
with  much  satisfaction  that  he  had  just  been  having  a 
game  at  bUliards  with  a  most  pleasant  casual  acquaint- 
ance, and  that  they  had  arranged  for  another  trial  of 
skill  next  day.  "Why,"  exclaimed  the  lady,  "it  is 
Johjl  Bright  you  have  been  playing  with!"  The 
manufacturer's  countenance  fell ;  but,  speedily  recover- 
ing himself,  he  observed,  in  extenuation  of  his  conduct, 
that  the  newspapers  always  told  lies  about  people,  and, 
so  thoroughly  was  he  now  satisfied  of  Mr.  Bright 's 
entire  hai'mlessness,  that,  in  given  circumstances,  he 
should  vote  for  him  himself. 

At  home,  at  One  Ash,  Mr.  Bright  enjo3's  universal 
respect.  His  abode,  though  most  unostentatious,  is  a 
model  of  comfort  and  good  taste.  His  library  is  note- 
worthy, being  specially  rich  in  history,  biography,  and 
poetry.  At  the  close  of  the  corn-law  agitation  up- 
wards of  twentj'^-five  thousand  dollars  were  subscribed 
by  his  admirers,  and  twelve  hundred  volumes  purchased 
therewith,  as  some  slight  acknowledgment  of  his  pow- 
erful advocacy  of  the  good  cause.  As  of  yore,  he 
regularly  attends  the  services  at  the  humble  meeting- 
house of  the  Friends  ;  and,  as  age  advances,  the  sources 
of  his  piety  show  no  symptom  of  drj'ing  up.  His 
chai'ities,  and — 


JOHN   BRIGHT.  19 

"  That  best  portion  of  a  good  man's  life, 
His  little,  nameless,  unremembered  acts 
Of  kindness  and  of  love," 

which  are  in  reality  numerous,  are  seldom  recorded, 
because  Mr.  Bright,  like  his  father  before  him,  declines 
to  blow  a  trumpet  when  he  does  a  good  deed.  He  acts 
on  the  principle  of  not  letting  his  right  hand  know 
what  his  left  hand  doeth  in  such  matters ;  and,  as  a 
consequence,  his  benefactions  are  better  known  to  the 
beneficiaries  than  to  the  public. 

As  to  Mr.  Bright' s  relations  with  his  work-people, 
man}^  Ij'ing  legends  were  at  one  time  circulated  by  the 
Tory  press.  They  practically,  however,  received  their 
quietus  on  the  2oth  of  January,  18G7,  when  the  alleged 
victims  of  Mr.  Bright' s  t3'ranny  met  and  unanimously 
passed  resolutions  so  complimentar}'  to  their  employer, 
that  for  shame's  cause  the  Conservative  organs  had  to 
look  about  for  fresh  subjects  of  vilification.  At  that 
time  Mr.  Bright  was  able  to  say,  "  From  1809  to  1867 
is  at  least  fifty-seven  years ;  and  I  venture  to  affirm, 
that  with  one  single  exception,  and  that  not  of  long 
duration,  there  has  been  during  that  period  uninter- 
rupted harmony  and  confidence  between  my  family  and 
those  who  have  assisted  us  and  been  employed  in  it. ' ' 
How  few  employers  in  this  age  of  ' '  strikes  ' '  can  say 
as  much ! 

With  respect  to  Mr.  Bright' s  oratory,  I  agree  with  all 
competent  judges  that  it  is  as  neaiiy  as  possible  per- 
fect. He  is  the  prince  of  English  speakers.  I  have 
been  told  by  some  authorities  who  have  heard  Wendell 
Phillips  speak,  that  he  is  equal  to  Mr.  Bright ;  but, 
from  speeches  by  the  celebrated  American  which  I  have 
read,  I  should  very  much  doubt  it.     The  heart,  the 


20  EVriNENT   LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

conscience,  the  intellect,  Mr.  Bright  can  touch  with 
equal  ease.  His  speech  is  the  natural  expression  of  a 
mind  at  once  beautiful  and  strong.  The  whole  man 
speaks,  and  not,  as  is  the  case  with  most  other  speak- 
ers, onlj^  a  part  of  him.  His  words  glide  like  a  pleas- 
ant brook,  without  haste  and  without  rest.  His  rising 
in  the  House  is  alwaj^s  an  event.  I  remember  by 
chance  being  in  the  Speaker's  Gallery  on  a  Wednesday 
afternoon  when  he  made  his  now  celebrated  speech  on 
the  Burials  Bill.  He  had  seldom  spoken  since  his 
severe  illness,  and  was  not  expected  to  address  the 
House.  The  debate  had  been  of  the  poorest  select 
vestry  stamp,  without  abilitj'  and  without  human  inter- 
est of  any  kind,  when  suddenly  a  movement  of  expec- 
tation was  visible  on  both  sides  of  the  House  :  — 

"And  hark!  the  cry  is,  '  Astur!'  and  lo!  the  ranks  divide, 
And  the  great  lord  of  Luna  comes  with  his  stately  stride. 
Upon  his  ample  shoulders  clangs  loud  the  fourfold  shield, 
And  in  his  hand  he  shakes  the  brand  which  none  save  he 
can  wield." 

The  eflfect  was  magical.  Languid  and  recumbent 
legislators  sat  erect,  and  were  all  attention  in  a  mo- 
ment. It  was  curious  to  observe  how  the  occupants 
of  the  Conservative  benches,  the  majority  of  whom  in 
the  late  Parliament  looked  for  all  the  world  like  a  band 
of  horse-jockej's  and  prize-fighters,  were  aflTected.  Mr. 
Bright  talked  to  them  with  all  the  simplicity  and  confi- 
dence of  a  good  paterfamilias  addressing  his  family 
circle  with  his  back  to  his  own  mantel-piece.  And  such 
talk !  No  wonder  that  they  listened  with  silent  re- 
spect. The  whole  House  was  transformed  by  it,  and 
began  to  feel  something  like  a  proper  sense  of  its  own 
duty  and  dignity.     Before  he  had  spoken  five  minutes, 


JOHN   BRIGHT.  21 

the  level  of  the  debate  had  been  raised  fifty  degrees 
at  least ;  and  there  was  not  an  honorable,  nor,  for  the 
matter  of  that,  a  dishonorable,  member  present  who 
did  not  feel  that  the  Government  was  morally  and  logi- 
cally routed,  whatever  its  numerical  ti'iumph  might  be. 

Mr.  Bright  does  one  thing  of  which  so  many  mem- 
bers are  oblivious :  he  never  in  any  of  his  speeches  in 
Parliament  forgets  that  he  is  in  the  great  council  of  the 
nation ;  and,  however  violent  may  be  the  supposition, 
he  alwaj's  assumes  that  his  opponents  are  there  to  be 
convinced,  if  only  the  matter  at  issue  is  put  in  a  proper 
light.  The  prevailing  tone  of  his  mind  is  one  of  hope- 
fulness. He  has  large  faith,  and  believes  in  the  inevi- 
table progress  of  humanity  and  the  ultimate  invinci- 
bility of  truth.  As  he  once  said,  "There  is  much 
shower  and  sunshine  between  the  sowing  of  the  seed 
and  the  reaping  of  the  harvest ;  but  the  harvest  is 
reaped  after  all." 

But,  though  his  nature  is  large  and  forgiving,  in  sol- 
emn earnestness  of  rebuke  he  is  unmatched.  Once  or 
twice  Lord  Palmerston,  in  the  very  height  of  his  power 
and  popularity,  was  made  to  wince  like  a  convict  under 
the  sentence  of  a  judge ;  and,  if  we  except  the  unique 
moral  insensibility  of  a  Beaconsfield,  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  conceive  of  a  more  arduous  undertaking  than 
that  of  reaching  the  conscience  of  Lord  Palmerston. 

In  the  terrible  struggle  which  threatened  to  rend  the 
great  American  Eepublic  to  pieces,  the  innermost  soul 
of  the  tribune  of  the  people  was  stirred  within  him,  and 
he  touched  the  limits  of  actual  prophecy.  In  the  dark- 
est hour  of  the  fortunes  of  the  ^orth  he  declared,  "  The 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  (Mr.  Gladstone)  as  a 
speaker  is  not  surpassed  by  any  man  in  England,  and 


22  EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

he  is  a  great  statesman.  He  believes  the  cause  of  the 
North  to  be  hopeless,  and  that  their  enterprise  cannot 
succeed.  ...  I  have  another  and  a  far  brighter  vision 
before  mj'  gaze.  It  may  be  a  vision ;  but  I  will  cherish 
it.  I  see  one  vast  confederation  stretching  from  the 
frozen  North  in  unbroken  line  to  the  glowing  South, 
and  from  the  wild  billows  of  the  Atlantic  westward  to 
the  calmer  waters  of  the  Pacific  main ;  and  I  see  one 
people  and  one  language,  and  one  law  and  one  faith, 
and  over  all  that  wide  continent  the  home  of  freedom 
and  a  refuge  for  the  oppressed  of  every  race  and  of 
eveiy  clime." 

It  remains  to  notice,  however  briefly,  some  of  the 
more  noticeable  events  of  Mr.  Bright's  public  life. 
They  have  not  been  so  numerous  as  might,  on  first 
thoughts,  be  supposed :  for  he  has  all  his  da3'S  been  a 
sower  of  seed,  and  not  a  reaper ;  and,  of  much  that  he 
has  sown,  future  generations  will  reap  the  fruit.  His 
"record "  will  be  best  found  in  his  collected  speeches, 
which  are,  in  my  opinion,  the  finest  in  the  language, 
whether  as  regards  matter  or  diction.  I  know  no  poli- 
tician who  has  been  more  unifonnly  in  the  right  when 
others  have  been  in  the  wrong,  and  I  know  no  greater 
master  of  the  English  tongue. 

His  first  public  appearance  was  made  at  Rochdale,  in 
1830,  in  his  nineteenth  year.  It  was  in  favor  of  tem- 
perance, and  is  said  to  have  been  a  success.  Like 
most  young  speakers,  he  commenced  bj'  committing  to 
memory  what  he  intended  to  utter  on  the  platform,  but 
soon  abandoned  so  clumsy  and  exhaustive  a  method  of 
address.  Instead  of  memoriter  reproductions,  he  held 
impromptu  rehearsals  at  odd  hours  in  his  father's  mill 
before  Mr.  Nicholas  Nuttall,  an  intelligent  workman 


JOHN  BRIGHT.  23 

and  unsparing  critic  ;  but  even  now  his  perorations  are 
written  out  with  the  greatest  care.  Like  most  young 
men  in  easy  circumstances,  he  had  a  desire  for  travel, 
which  was  gratified  by  a  visit  to  Jerusalem.  On  coming 
within  sight  of  the  Holy  City,  he  was  melted  to  tears. 

In  the  month  of  October,  1838,  the  Anti-Corn  Law 
League  had  its  insignificant  and  unpromising  beginning. 
Five  Scotsmen,  — W.  A.  Cunningham,  Andrew  Dalzell, 
James  Leslie,  Archibald  Prentis,  and  Philip  Thomson, 
residents  in  Manchester,  —  along  with  William  Rawson, 
a  native  of  the  town,  met  lilie  the  apostles  of  old,  in  an 
"  upper  room,"  and  decreed  the  origin  of  the  mammoth 
association.  In  the  printed  list  of  the  members  of  the 
provisional  conmaittee  Mr.  Bright's  name  stands  sec* 
ond.  He  had  found  his  vocation  ;  and,  in  the  course  of 
the  memorable  campaign  that  followed,  he  and  the  late 
Mr.  Cobden  contracted  a  fiiendship  which  has  justly 
become  historic.  In  speaking  in  the  House  of  Mr. 
Cobden 's  decease,  the  strong  man,  bowed  down  with 
the  weight  of  his  son'ow,  was  barely  able  to  utter, 
"  After  twentj^  years  of  most  intimate  and  almost 
brotherly  friendship  with  him,  I  little  knew  how  much 
I  loved  him  until  I  found  that  I  had  lost  him."  Siste, 
viator ! 

In  1843  Mr.  Bright  first  took  his  seat  in  Parliament 
for  Durham,  and  in  1847  he  was  returned  for  Man- 
chester without  opposition.  In  1852  he  was  re-elected 
after  a  contest ;  but  at  the  subsequent  general  election 
of  1857  he  lost  his  seat  on  account  of  his  unbending 
opposition  to  the  Crimean  war,  and  to  the  swagger  of 
Palmerston  in  China.  In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year, 
however,  he  was  returned  by  Birmingham  at  a  by- 
election,  and  has  continued  to  represent  the  great 
Radical  Mecca  in  Parliament  ever  since. 


24  EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

His  memorable  defeat  at  Manchester  was,  for  him, 
the  greatest  moral  victory  of  his  life,  and  he  has  had 
many.  With  a  sublime  courage,  which  has  never  been 
smpassed,  he  strove  almost  single-handed  to  arrest  in 
its  mad  career  a  whole  nation  in  pursuit  of  a  mischiev- 
ous phantom.  In  the  American  war  his  services  to  his 
own  country  and  to  America  were  unrivalled,  and 
happily  more  successful. 

That  he  is  one  of  the  best  and  most  intelligent 
friends  of  India,  of  Ireland,  and  of  the  unenfranchised 
and  unprivileged  masses  of  Englishmen  and  Scotsmen 
will  go  without  saying.  As  a  member  of  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's cabinet  he  was  introduced  at  court,  and  is  said 
to  be  a  favorite  there.  I  should  have  liked  him  better 
had  he  continued  —  to  use  his  own  words  —  "to  abide 
among  his  own  people."  Evil  communications  have  a 
tendency  to  con-npt  the  best  manners,  and  Mr.  Bright 
has  never  been  at  his  best  since  he  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  royalty. 

Latterly  the  brunt  of  the  fighting  has  fallen  on  Glad- 
stone, who,  by  an  arduous  heart-searching  process,  has, 
at  seventy,  reached  conceptions  of  the  public  good 
which  were  familiar  to  Mr.  Bright's  mind  at  twenty. 
It  is  Mr.  Bright's  turn  to  put  his  powerful  hand  to  the 
plough.  He  looks  vigorous  as  ever,  and  it  has  not 
been  his  wont  to  spare  himself  in  great  emergencies. 
Let  him  remember  the  wisdom  of  Ulysses  addressed  to 
the  "  great  and  godlike  "  Achilles,  — 

"To  have  done, 
Is  to  hang  quite  out  of  fashion,  like  a  rusty  mail, 
In  monmnental  mockery." 


III. 

PETER  ALFRED  TAYLOR. 

"And  I  have  walked  with  Hampden  and  with  Vane, 
Names  once  so  gracious  in  an  English  ear." 

HAVING  now  portrayed,  however  imperfectly,  our 
two  most  illustrious  Radical  statesmen,  —  Mr. 
Gladstone  and  Mr.  Bright,  I  come  to  deal  with  one 
who  is  not  a  statesman,  —  who  makes  no  pretension  to 
statesmanship,  —  but  who,  as  a  politician,  has  never- 
theless ' '  been  fashioned  unto  much  honor. ' '  His  name 
wUl  not  be  found,  I  think,  even  among  that  multitude 
which  no  man  can  number,  the  "  Men  of  the  Times." 
Nor  is  the  omission  so  culpable  as  may  at  first  sight 
appear ;  for  Mr.  P.  A.  Ta^^lor  belongs  at  once  to  the 
Radical  past  and  the  Radical  future  rather  than  to 
the  opportunist  present.  He  is  the  most  unique  figure 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  —  a  man  who,  in  the  daj's  of 
the  Long  Parliament,  would  have  been  after  gentle 
Lucy  Hutchinson's  own  republican  heart,  and  who,  in 
those  of  Queen  Victoria,  has  been  best  appreciated  by 
such  gifted  pioneers  of  progress  as  Mazzini  and  Mill. 
He  has  now  represented  Leicester  in  Parliament  for 
eighteen  years,  and  all  that  time  he  has  neither  led  nor 
followed,  —  neither  been  misled  by  the  leaders  of  his 
party,  nor  been  found  following  the  multitude  to  do 
evil.     If  he  has  led  at  any  time,  it  has  been  as  the 

25 


26       ejunent  liberals  in  parliament. 

captain  of  forlorn  hopes,  the  champion  of  forgotten 
rights,  the  redresser  of  unheeded  wrongs.  He  is  the 
Incorruptible  of  the  House.  In  evil  and  in  good  report 
he  has  striven  to  subject  everj'  issue  that  has  presented 
itself  to  the  test  of  general  principles  of  human  well- 
being. 

I  am  not  now  considering  whether  he  has  been  uni- 
fonnly  right  in  particular  deductions  from  these  prin- 
ciples :  he  may,  or  he  may  not.  All  I  say  is,  that  he 
has  been  uniforml}'  tnie  to  his  principles  from  his  youth 
up.  They  alone  have  been  his  leaders.  Of  "  doctrines 
fashioned  to  the  varying  hour,"  he  has  known  nothing, 
and,  from  the  constitution  of  his  mind,  will  never  know. 

Mr.  Taylor  is  generally  considered  an  eccentric 
member ;  but  his  eccentricity  is  wholly  on  the  siu-face. 
Once  understand  his  principles,  or  rather  solitary  prin- 
ciple of  action, — viz.,  that  liberty,  liberty,  liberty',  is 
the  best  of  all  things  in  all  things  political,  religious, 
social,  or  commercial,  —  and  the  course  which  the 
senior  member  for  Leicester  will  pursue  on  any  given 
question  may  be  predicted  almost  with  mathematical 
certaintj'. 

I  alwaj'S  remember  a  curiously  instructive  telegraphic 
summar}'  of  a  speech  delivered  by  Mr.  Taylor  to  his 
constituents  about  the  time  of  the  republican  agitation 
in  1870.  It  was  a  model  of  compression  ;  but  it  illus- 
trates admirably  what  I  have  been  saj'ing.  It  appeared 
among  other  items  of  "  election  news,"  and  ran  thus  : 
"  Mr.  P.  A.  Taylor,  the  member  for  Leicester,  ad- 
di-essed  his  constituents  last  night.  He  declared  for 
the  republic  and  against  the  Permissive  Bill."  I  don't 
know  whether  the  intelligent  reporter  saw  any  irony  in 
the  juxtaposition  into  which  the  republic  and  the  Per- 


PETER  ALFRED  TAYLOR.  27 

missive  Bill  were  thus  brought ;  but  sure  I  am  that 
Mr.  Taj'lor  would  have  recognized  none.  According 
to  his  views,  the  one  was  in  favor  of,  the  other  in  oppo- 
sition to,  liberty.  Hence  his  support  and  his  antago- 
nism. Both  flowed  naturally  from  the  same  source,  — 
a  source  at  once  of  strong  personal  conviction  and 
ancestral  pride. 

It  may  appear  somewhat  strange  to  attribute  ances- 
tral pride  to  an  out-and-out  democrat  like  Mr.  Taylor ; 
but  it  is  impossible  fully  to  understand  his  character 
without  taking  the  markedly  liberal  tendencies  of  his 
forefathers,  both  in  politics  and  religion,  into  account. 
Mr.  Taylor  may  be  described  as  a  hereditary  Kadical  of 
two  and  a  half  centuries  standing. 

The  pseudo-science  of  heraldry  is  coming  to  have 
an  unexpected  value  as  an  aid  to  the  study  of  the 
laws  of  heredity.  Mental,  like  physical  characteristics, 
are  shown  to  persist  and  recur  from  generation  to 
generation,  contrary  to  all  our  preconceived  notions 
of  the  determining  causes  of  the  opinions  of  indi- 
viduals and  the  way  in  which  they  are  formed.  The 
acquisition  of  riches  is  vulgarly  supposed  to  make  the 
best  of  Radicals  Consei"vatives.  Self-interest,  it  is 
held,  induces  them  instinctively  to  throw  in  their  lot 
with  the  privileged  classes  ;  but  the  history  of  some  of 
the  most  respectable  and  well-to-do  families  in  England 
proves  the  very  opposite.  The  instinct  in  favor  of 
progress  may  fail  for  a  generation ;  but  it  soon  re- 
appears. 

Mr.  Taylor's  genealogy  is  in  itself  a  standing  refuta- 
tion of  ordinarily  accepted  theories..  The  name  is 
distinctly  of  plebeian  origin  ;  but,  as  early  as  the  reign 
of  Edward  III.,  Mr.  Taylor's   progenitors  possessed 


28  EMINENT   LIBERALS   IN   PAELIAJVIENT. 

large  estates  in  Huntingdonshire.  They  "  bore  ai-ms  " 
of  course  ;  and  evidently  with  the  desire,  if  possible,  to 
aristocratize  their  name,  they  called  themselves  Tay- 
lards.  And  this  continued  to  be  the  spelling  till  the 
close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  when  the  patronymic 
was  restored  to  the  more  ancient  plebeian  foi-m  by  an 
irate  Taylard  who  considered  that  he  had  had  enough 
of  aristocracy.  The  head  of  the  family  had  died,  leav- 
ing a  pregnant  wife  behind  him,  and  a  will  which  inten- 
tionally or  otherwise  omitted  the  normal  word  "•  male." 
A  girl  was  born ;  and  an  astute  gentleman,  named 
Brudenell,  who  afterwards  became  Earl  of  Cardigan, 
married  the  heiress  and  her  estates  in  her  fourteenth 
year.  The  Taylards  took  the  matter  into  chancery, 
but  failed  to  secure  the  succession  ;  and,  being  greatly 
impoverished,  their  chief  representative  came  to  Lon- 
don, and  established  himself  on  the  spot  where  Messrs. 
Longmans'  well-known  publishing-house  now  stands  as 
plain  "]Mi'.  Taylor,  Haberdasher." 

He  prospered  in  business,  and  was  a  stanch  sup- 
porter of  the  Commonwealth,  which  rewarded  his  zeal 
by  several  important  appointments.  He  was  a  warm 
friend  of  the  regicides,  and  added  to  his  political  mis- 
conduct religious  heresy.  He  ably  defended  the  noted 
Socinian  preacher  of  the  day,  Goodwin. 

At  the  Restoration,  William  Taj-lor,  son  of  this  re- 
publican haberdasher,  was  pardoned  by  Charles  II.  for 
his  father's  manifold  offences  on  the  pajTnent  of  a 
heavy  fine,  —  pardoned  (he  was  but  fourteen  !)  "  for  all 
manners  of  treacheries,  crimes,  treasons,  misprisions, 
...  all  and  singular  murders." 

Passing  rapidl}'  down  the  stream  of  time,  we  come  to 
the  Rev.  Henry  Taylor  of  Portsmouth,  who  matricu- 


PETER  ALFRED  TAYLOR.  29 

lated  at  Cambridge  University  in  1729.  He  is  better 
known  as  Ben  Mordecai,  from  the  production  of  a  very 
clever  book  entitled  "The  Apology  of  Benjamin  Ben 
Mordecai  for  embracing  Christianity."  He  possessed 
aU  the  family  characteristics  in  an  eminent  degree.  In 
religion  he  was  an  Arian  and  a  Universalist,  and  neither 
menace  nor  persuasion  could  ever  induce  him  to  read 
the  Athanasian  Creed  from  his  pulpit.  He  tried  hard 
to  get  the  Prayer  Book  reformed,  and  all  but  succeeded 
in  procuring  the  objects  for  which  Broad  Churchmen 
still  sigh.  He  denounced  the  game-laws,  and  would 
not  turn  on  his  heel  to  be  introduced  to  roj'alty  when  it 
came  in  his  way.  Albeit  a  churchman,  he  was  in  all 
respects  the  prototj^pe  of  the  honorable  member  for 
Leicester,  —  Radical  in  politics  as  in  religion,  with  a 
caustic  vein  of  drollery,  of  which  the  following  extract 
from  a  circular  to  the  clergy,  found  among  his  papers, 
may  serve  as  a  specimen.  It  reminds  one  forciblj'  of 
Mr.  Tajlor's  own  very  clever  contribution  to  the  "  Pen 
and  Pencil  Club,"  styled  "Realities."  It  is  fittingly 
labelled  "  Impudent,"  and  begins  :  "  One  hundred  and 
fifty  sei-mons,  such  as  are  gi'catly  admired  and  are  but 
little  known,  engraved  in  a  masterly  running-hand, 
printed  on  stout  writing-paper,  and  made  to  resemble 
manuscript  as  nearly  as  possible ;  in  length  from 
twenty  to  twenty-five  minutes,  as  pithj^  as  possible, 
intelligible  to  every  understanding,  and  as  fit  to  be 
preached  to  a  polite  as  to  a  countiy  congregation,"  &c. 
Nor  is  Mr.  Taylor  descended  from  a  Radical  stock  on 
the  paternal  side  alone.  His  maternal  grandfather  was 
George  Courtauld,  who  travelled  much  on  philanthropic 
missions  in  America,  and  was  the  fast  friend  of  Dr. 
Priestley  and  Thomas  Paine.     The  first  of  the  Court- 


30  EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

aulds  is  said  in  infancy  to  have  been  smuggled  to  Eng- 
land in  a  pannier  by  his  Huguenot  guai'dians  at  the 
Eevocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  Not  only  was 
George  Courtauld  a  zealous  Unitarian,  but  his  political 
sjTnpathies  appear  also  to  have  been  republican.  Writ- 
ing from  America  to  a  relative  in  England,  he  shrewdly 
remarks,  "  I  cannot  but  think  with  Mr.  Paine  that  you 
have  no  constitution.  You  have,  indeed,  a  form  of 
government ;  but  how  j'ou  came  by  that  it  is  very  diffi- 
cult to  say,  —  certainly  it  was  not  that  form  which,  af- 
ter mature  deliberation,  the  people  of  England  chose  for 
themselves." 

Within  the  last  few  years  Lord  Beacon  sfield  has  de- 
monstrated to  all  whom  it  may  concern  that  Mr.  Tay- 
lor's grandfather  and  Mr.  Paine  were  not  far  wrong  in 
divining  that  the  English  people  have  "no  constitu- 
tion," onlj'  "a  form  of  government,"  which,  in  the 
hands  of  a  despotic  Minister,  may  be  twisted  into  the 
most  dangerous  imperialistic  shape.  "  Om-  glorious 
constitution  "  is  a  political  impostm'e  and  superstition 
which  the  member  for  Leicester,  the  descendant  of  such 
a  clear-sighted  race  of  iconoclasts,  can  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  swallow  without  protest. 

Mr.  P.  A.  Taylor,  M.P.,  was  born  in  London  in 
1819.  He  is  the  eldest  son  of  Peter  Alfred  Taj'lor,  of 
the  old  and  highly  respected  firm  of  Courtauld,  Taj'lor, 
&  Courtauld,  silk-manufacturers.  Booking,  Braintree, 
Halstead.  He  was  educated  in  the  first  instance  at  the 
Unitarian  school  at  Brighton,  then  taught  b}'^  the  Kev. 
J.  P.  Malleson.  At  fourteen  years  of  age  he  was  re- 
moved to  London,  and  for  a  short  time  he  attended 
University  College. 

Of  the  Unitarians,  as  a  sect,  it  has  been  wittily  said. 


PETER  ALFRED  TAYLOR.  31 

that,  if  they  can  only  see  their  way  to  believe  in  one 
God,  they  invariat)!}'  pay  twenty  shillings  in  the  pound. 
They  are  an  eminentl}^  rational,  upright,  and  progres- 
sive people  ;  and  politicall3^  their  services  to  the  country 
have  been  invaluable.  In  all  respects  Mr.  Tajlor's 
educational  and  social  advantages  were  of  the  most  en- 
viable kind.  His  father  was  an  ardent  opponent  of  the 
corn  laws,  of  church  rates,  and  of  a  limited  franchise. 
The  friends  of  Mr.  Ta3'lor's  youth  were  reformers  of  the 
highest  intellectual  grasp,  including  MUl,  Mazzini,  Col. 
Perronet  Thomson,  and  Ebenezer  Elliot,  the  corn-law 
Thyvaer. 

The  man,  however,  to  whom  Mr.  Taylor  owed  most 
was  the  celebrated  W.  J.  Fox,  the  minister  of  South- 
place  Chapel,  Finsbur}-,  where  the  Tajdors,  father  and 
son,  attended  for  manj-  years.  Mr.  Fox  was  a  preach- 
er of  extraordinar}^  talent  and  energy.  From  being  the 
"Norwich  Weaver-Boy,"  he  became  simultaneously 
minister  of  the  most  intellectual  congregation  in  the 
metropolis,  member  of  Parliament  for  Oldham  ;  and  last, 
not  least,  he  wielded  the  powerful  pen  of  "  Publicola  " 
in  "The  "Weekly  Dispatch."  After  his  death,  Mr. 
Taylor,  in  one  of  the  best  speeches  he  ever  delivered, 
said  of  him,  with  much  truth,  "  His  political  principles 
were  not  so  weakly  based  that  he  feared  to  trace  the 
result  in  the  history  of  various  kinds  of  government ; 
nor  his  religion  so  poorl}^  grounded  as  to  fear  scientific 
inquiry.  He  searched  after  truth,  and  followed  wher- 
ever it  might  lead  him."  In  portraying  Fox's  virtues, 
Mr.  Taylor  described  the  leading  features  of  his  own 
mind. 

Very  earlj^  in  life  Mr.  Taylor  entered  his  father's 
business,  for  which  he  showed  aptitude  of  the  highest 


32  EMINENT   LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

order,  and  by  1866  he  was  able  to  retire  from  the  firm 
with  a  handsome  competency.  This  fact  is  all  the 
more  gratifying  that  for  upwards  of  twenty  j'ears  previ- 
ousl}^  he  had  been  giving  up  much  of  his  time  to  the 
public  service. 

In  quitting  connection  with  the  firm,  Mr.  Taylor  ad- 
dressed a  characteristic  circular  to  all  the  employes. 
"  M}'^  friends,"  it  said  among  other  things,  "with  the 
close  of  the  old  year  has  ceased,  as  you  all  probably-  are 
aware,-  my  connection  with  the  business,  and  therefore 
with  30U.  I  cannot  let  such  a  connection  cease  with- 
out just  one  word  of  kindly  farewell,  of  hearty  good 
wishes.  In  wishing  you  farewell,  I  reflect  with  satisfac- 
tion that  the  name  of  Taylor  will  still  be  represented  in 
the  house  by  my  brother.  Finally,  let  me  say,  that, 
should  my  name  ever  reach  you  in  connection  with  any 
question  of  public  interest,  I  can  promise  beforehand 
that  it  will  only  be  on  the  side  ever  upheld  by  my  fa- 
ther before  me, — that,  viz.,  of  justice  for  all,  and  of 
political  enfranchisement  for  the  working-classes." 

In  Parliament  Mr.  Taj'lor  is  rapt  and  solitary,  living 
in  the  world  of  his  own  ideas.  Nevertheless,  his  sin- 
gleness of  purpose,  accuracy  of  statement,  genuine 
humor,  originality  of  ideas,  and  clear,  effective  spealc- 
ing  never  fail  to  secure  for  him  a  respectful  hearing, 
however  distasteful  may  be  the  subject  of  his  address. 

At  home  he  is  a  delightful  host,  an  inveterate  joker  of 
jokes.  His  wife,  a  lady  of  great  accomplishments,  is 
hardly  behind  him  in  zeal  for  the  public  good.  Every 
post  brings  heaps  of  letters  from  aggrieved  subjects  of 
her  Majesty  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  They  are  all 
carefully  considered,  and  parliamcntar}'  or  extra-parlia- 
mentary redress  invoked,  according  to  cucumstances. 


PETER  ALFRED  TAYLOR.  33 

In  his  capacity  of  redresser-general  of  unheeded  wrongs 
and  oppressions,  Mr.  Taylor  has  quite  a  business  to 
attend  to  ;  and  in  this  character  liave  some  of  his  great- 
est senatorial  successes  been  achieved. 

He  is  the  terror  of  the  "  great  unpaid,"  whose  ciTiel 
antics  throughout  rural  England  he  has  done  much  to 
curb.  Every  day  "justices'  justice  "  is  more  of  a  by- 
word and  a  reproach.  He  has  striven  hard  to  remove 
the  inequalities  of  Sunday  legislation  ;  and  the  poor  of 
London  in  particular  owe  him  a  debt  of  gratitude  for 
taking  the  sting  out  of  the  great  harasser  of  then'  lives, 
that  too  "  busj'  bee,"  Bee  Wright.  It  is  but  the  other 
day  that  Mr.  Taj'lor,  at  a  cost  of  more  than  ten  thou- 
sand dollars,  presented  the  workingmen  of  Brighton 
with  a  People's  Club,  which  will  secure  to  them  on  Sun- 
days something  like  the  advantages  of  a  local  Carlton 
or  Reform. 

In  the  attempt  to  bring  General  Ej're  to  justice,  he 
was  hardly  less  active  than  Mr.  Mill. 

The  "  cat,"  he  has  satisfied  all  humane  minds,  is 
twice  accursed,  —  cm-sing  him  that  administers,  and  him 
to  whom  it  is  administered. 

The  game-laws  he  has  had  the  courage  to  expose  in 
all  theh  naked  infamy  to  a  country  stnl  held  tight  in  the 
vice  of  feudaUsm. 

He  has  been  one  of  three  in  resisting  the  spoliation 
of  the  exchequer  by  royal  princes  and  princesses  ;  and 
the  most  important  perhaps  of  all  future  parliamentary 
reforms  —  the  payment  of  members  —  he  has  made 
peculiarly  his  own.  His  speech  on  the  latter  subject  is 
one  of  the  most  convincing  ever  delivered  by  him  or 
any  other  living  member  of  the  House. 

As  president  of  the  ' '  People's  International  League," 


34  EMINENT  LIBEEALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

Mr.  Taylor  in  his  younger  days  was  untiring  in  his 
^endeavors  to  liberate  Poland,  Hungarj-,  and  Italy  from 
the  oppressor's  grasp.  By  voice,  pen,  and  purse,  he 
did  his  best  for  the  popular  cause. 

The  only  conspicuous  blunder  of  his  life  was  his 
advocacj^  of  the  Crimean  war  in  opposition  to  Cobden 
and  Bright.  The  wrongs  of  Poland  rankled  in  his 
breast  and  blinded  his  judgment,  as  it  fatally  darkened 
the  understanding  of  so  man}'  other  true  friends  of  free- 
dom. In  the  American  civil  war,  needless  to  say,  his 
SA-mpathies  were  entirely  with  the  North  and  the  policy 
of  abolition,  of  which  he  had  long  been  a  -strenuous 
advocate. 

In  America  the  name  of  P.  A.  Taj'lor  is  perhaps 
as  well  known  as  in  England,  and  it  will  be  better 
known  to  posterity  than  to  his  contemporaries.  Nor 
is  this  to  be  wondered  at ;  for  in  this  royalty  and  aris- 
tocracy ridden  land  the  member  for  Leicester  is  a  "  rare  ' ' 
figure,  and  precious  as  he  is  rare.  He  is,  in  a  sense,  a 
"  sundval  "  from  the  great  era  of  the  Commonwealth,  — 
a  mind  of  the  tj-pe  of  Vane,  Ludlow,  Hutchinson, 
Scott,  and  Hazelrig,  —  an  idealist  in  politics,  but  withal 
a  practical  idealist.  He  is  more  human  than  English, 
his  principles  being  more  or  less  applicable  to  all  times 
and  to  all  places.  Having  embraced  a  principle,  he 
holds  to  it  with  the  tenacity  of  a  bull-dog,  fearlessly 
pushing  it  to  its  remotest  consequences. 

This  was  the  distinguishing  mental  characteristic  of 
all  the  great  republicans  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
Since  then  an  extraordinary  blight  has  fallen  on  the 
political  intelligence  of  Englishmen.  They  waste  their 
best  intellect  in  the  defence  of  palpable  anomalies  and 
pernicious  compromises.     Even  Gladstone  and  Bright 


PETER  ALFRED  TAYLOR.  85 

have  not  escaped  the  contagion  of  compromise.  They 
goto  court,  and  are  caught  in  the  net  of  "society," 
wliich  sticks  to  them  like  a  Nessus  shirt.  Peter  Alfred 
Tajdor  has  never  been  caught.  He  has  gone  to  no 
court  but  that  of  the  sovereign  people.  I  honor  the 
man  and  the  constituency  which  has  so  long  honored 
itself  by  honoring  him. 

"  Stainless  soldier  on  the  walls, 

Knowing  this  and  knows  no  more,  — 
Whoever  fights,  whoever  falls, 
Justice  conquers  evermore; 
.   And  he  who  battles  on  her  side, 
God,  if  he  were  ten  times  slain, 
Crowns  him  victor  glorified,  — 
Victor  over  death  and  pain." 


IV. 

SIR  CHARLES  W.  DILKE. 

"  A  greyhound  ever  on  the  stretch 
To  run  for  honor  still." 

IN  treating  of  Gladstone,  Bright,  and  Taylor,  who 
have  preceded  the  senior  member  for  Chelsea  in 
this  series,  I  have  in  some  measure  felt  on  sure 
ground,  —  the  ground  of  history  or  accomplished  fact. 
The  youngest  of  the  above  trio  is  sixty,  and  had 
entered  the  arena  of  public  life  ere  the  subject  of  this 
memoir  had  well  left  his  cradle.  One  could,  conse- 
quently, speak  of  them  almost  with  as  much  confidence 
as  of  the  dead.  Their  lengthened  past  was  a  clear 
index  to  their  necessarily  briefer  future.  In  due  course 
they  will  pass  over  to  the  majority-,  and  the  places  that 
know  them  now  will  know  them  no  more.  AVith  Sir 
Charles  Wentworth  Dillce  it  is  altogether  different. 
He  belongs  exclusively  to  the  immediate  present.  It 
will  take  him  thii't3'-five  more  years  to  attain  the  ven- 
erable age  of  the  woodcutter  of  Hawarden.  He  is 
emphatically  a  contemporar}-,  as  fine  an  example  as 
can  well  be  found  of  the  culture  and  aspirations  of  this 
generation.  It  is  his  future  that  is  most  important, 
and  it  is  full  of  promise. 

As  Mr.  Gladstone  in  his  youth  was  pronounced  "  the 
rising  hope  of  Toryism,"  so  Sir  Chaiies  W.  Dilke  may 
m 


SIR  CHARLES   W.   DILKE.  37 

with  better  assurance  be  hailed  as  the  rising  hope  of 
Radicalism,  —  of  all  that  is  sincere,  capable,  and  of 
good  repute  in  P^nglish  politics.  The  odds  are  heavily 
in  his  favor.  He  has  youth,  health,  wealth,  birth, 
strength,  talent,  industry,  firmness  of  character,  spe- 
cial training,  and  moral  courage  of  a  very  high  order 
on  his  side.  Such  a  combination  of  advantages  sel- 
dom fails.  If  he  is  spared  to  his  country  for  the  next 
twenty  j-ears,  he  will  almost  certainly  be  able  to  say 
with  regard  to  her  fortunes,  whatever  these  may  be, 
Magna  pars  fui.  "  Never  prophesy,"  said  the  wise 
Quaker,  "unless  thou  knowest !  "  Nevertheless,  I 
venture  to  predict,  that,  sooner  or  later,  Charles  Went- 
worth  Dilke  will  be  called  upon  by  the  people  of  Eng- 
land to  take  a  very  high  place,  —  it  may  be  the  highest, 
—  and  he  will  succeed,  too,  by  the  right  of  the  fittest. 
Like  his  friend  Gambetta,  he  has  been  tried  in  the  fiery 
furnace  of  political  calumnj^  and  social  hate,  and  has 
not  been  found  wanting.  "Society"  undertook  to 
put  him  down,  and  he  has  put  down  society.  Of  the 
two  he  has  proved  himself  the  stronger,  and  a  better 
proof  of  capacity  to  serve  the  nation  it  would  be 
impossible  to  adduce. 

"  That  which  is  bred  in  the  bone,"  says  the  proverb, 
"  will  come  out  in  the  flesh."  The  anti-monarchical 
sympathies  of  the  Dilkes,  like  those  of  the  Taylors,  are 
at  least  as  much  inherited  as  acquired.  No  fewer  than 
three  of  the  Dilke  ancestry  were  among  the  judges  of 
Charles  I.  ;  viz.,  the  resolute  Bradshaw,  who  presided 
over  the  High  Court  of  Justice,  Sir  Peter  Wentworth, 
and  Cawley.  All  were  stem  foes  of  "  one-man  govern- 
ment," whether  that  one  man  were  the  "  divine  right " 
Charles  Stuart,  or  the  Puritan  Bonaparte,  Oliver  Crom- 


38  EJIINENT   LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

well.  "For  what  king's  majesty,"  asks  the  immortal 
defender  of  the  regicides,  Milton,  "  sitting  on  an  ex- 
alted throne  ever  shone  so  brightly  as  that  of  the  people 
of  England  then  did,  when,  shaking  off  that  old  super- 
stition which  had  prevailed  a  long  time,  they  gave  judg- 
ment on  the  king  himself,  or  rather  upon  an  enemy 
who  had  been  their  king,  caught,  as  it  were,  in  a  net 
by  his  own  laws,  and  scrupled  not  to  inflict  on  him, 
being  guilty,  the  same  punishment  which  he  would  have 
inflicted  on  any  other?  .  .  .  This  is  the  God,"  he 
continues,  "  who  uses  to  throw  down  proud  and  unruly 
kings  .  .  .  and  utterly  to  extirpate  them  and  their 
family.  By  his  manifest  impulse  being  set  at  work  to 
recover  our  almost  lost  liberty,  we  went  on  in  no  ob- 
scure but  an  illustrious  passage  pointed  out  and  made 
plain  to  us  by  God  himself." 

At  his  trial  Charles  vainly  declined  to  recognize  the 
authority  of  the  court,  on  the  silly  pretext  that  he  him- 
self was  "  the  fountain  of  all  law."  "  If  jou  are  the 
fountain  of  aU  law,"  curtly  observed  Bradshaw,  "the 
people  are  the  source  of  all  rights."  When  the  Crom- 
wellian  coup  d'etat  took  place.  Sir  Peter  Wentworth 
was,  I  think,  the  last  man  in  the  House  to  protest 
against  the  violence  offered  to  the  representatives  of 
the  people  ;  and  Bradshaw  afterwards  told  the  military 
usurper  to  his  face,  "We  have  heard  what  you  did, 
and  all  England  shall  know  it.  Sir,  you  are  mistaken 
in  thinking  Parliament  is  dissolved.  No  power  under 
heaven  can  dissolve  them  but  themselves.  Take  you 
notice  of  that." 

One  of  Sir  Peter  Wentworth's  sisters  was  married 
to  Bradshaw 's  brother ;  while  another,  Sybil  Went- 
worth, became  the  wife  of  Fisher  Dilke,  from  which 


Sm  CHARLES  W.  DILKE.  39 

union  the  distinguished  representative  of  Chelsea  in 
Parliament  is  lineally  descended. 

The  Dukes  were  probably  of  Danish  origin,  and  are 
to  be  found  settled  at  Kirby  Mallory,  in  Leicestershire, 
as  early  as  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

Fisher  Dilke  was  a  Puritan  of  the  Pimtans,  much  given 
to  angling,  and  piety  of  an  extravagant  kind.  He  was 
a  Fifth  Monarchy  man,  and,  like  his  sect,  would  have 
prepared  the  ways  of  King  Christ,  and  made  the  paths 
of  his  speedy  return  straight  by  first  abolishing  all  ex- 
isting authority  and  cancelling  all  bonds  of  human 
allegiance.  He  was  doomed  to  sore  disappointment. 
His  co-sectaries  mustered  strong  in  Barebone's  Parlia- 
ment, but  in  the  eyes  of  the  pious  Lord  Protector  did 
no  good  whatever,  though  they  never  deliberated  with- 
out meanwhile  setting  apart  a  committee  of  eight  of 
their  number  to  seek  the  Lord  in  prayer.  Their  mit- 
timus came  speedily  from  the  Protector  in  the  memo- 
rable words,  "You  may  go  elsewhere  to  seek  the  Lord, 
for  to  my  certain  knowledge  he  has  not  been  here  for 
many  years." 

At  the  restoration  of  the  monarchy  Fisher  Dilke  is 
said  to  have  died  of  sheer  grief,  having  first  dug  his 
own  grave. 

Of  all  Sir  Charles's  ancestors,  however,  the  most 
remarkable  wae  Peter  Wentworth,  the  grandfather  of 
Sybil,  wife  of  Fisher  Dilke,  leader  of  the  Puritan  op- 
position in  Parliament  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
and  brother-in-law  to  the  famous  Secretary  of  State, 
Sir  Francis  Walsingham.  This  Peter  and  his  brother 
Paul  were  seldom  out  of  trouble.  Hallam  calls  them 
"the  bold,  plain-spoken,  and  honest,  but  not  very 
judicious  Wentworths,  the  most  undaunted  assertors  of 
civil  liberty  in  his  reign." 


40  EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

In  the  Parliament  of  1575  Peter  made  a  stiff  speech 
iu  defence  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  Commons. 
It  is  on  record.  "I  find,"  said  he,  "within  a  little 
volume  these  words  in  effect :  '  Sweet  is  the  name  of 
liberty,  but  the  thing  itself  a  value  beyond  all  estimable 
treasure.'  So  much  the  more  it  behooveth  us  to  take 
great  care  lest  we,  contenting  ourselves  with  the  sweet- 
ness of  the  name,  lose  and  forego  the  thing.  .  .  .  Two 
things  do  great  hurt  in  this  place.  The  one  is  a  rumor 
which  runneth  about  saving,  '  Take  heed  what  you  do : 
the  queen  liketh  not  such  a  matter.  Whoso  preferreth 
it  she  will  be  offended  with  him.'  The  other,  a  mes- 
sage is  brought  into  the  House  either  conunanding  pr 
inhibiting,  very  injurious  to  the  freedom  of  speech  and 
consultation.  I  would  to  God  these  rumors  and  mes- 
sages were  buried  in  hell ;  for  wicked  they  are :  the 
Devil  was  the  first  author  of  them,  from  whom  proceed- 
eth  nothing  but  wickedness." 

And  so  on  he  went  reprobating  the  venal  flatterers 
of  royalt}'  who  "make  traitorous,  sugared  speeches," 
' '  send  to  her  Majesty  a  melting  heart  that  will  not  stand 
for  reason,"  and  who  blindly  follow  their  leaders  instead 
of  voting  "  as  the  matter  giveth  cause." 

Peter  was  not  permitted  to  finish  his  speech,  but  was 
given  into  the  custody  of  the  sergeant-at-arms,  pending 
an  examination  of  the  delinquent  by  a»  committee  of 
the  House.'' 

His  apology  is  recorded :  "I  heartily  repent  me  that 
I  have  hitherto  held  my  peace  in  these  causes,  and  I  do 
promise  j'ou  all,  if  God  forsake  me  not,  that  I  will 
never  during  my  life  hold  my  tongue  if  any  message  is 
sent  in  wherein  the  liberties  of  Parliament  are  impeached  ; 
and  every  one  of  j'ou  ought  to  repent  you  of  these 
faults,  and  amend  them." 


SIR   CHARLES   W.   DILKE.  41 

He  was,  of  course,  sent  to  the  Tower,  where  he  re- 
mained over  a  month,  when  "her  Majesty  was  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  remit  her  justly  occasioned  displeas- 
ances." 

He  retui'ned  to  the  House  ;  but  in  the  following  session 
he  was  recommitted  for  a  similar  offence.  Indeed,  he 
appears  latterly  to  have  spent  more  of  his  time  in  the 
Tower  than  at  St.  Stephen's ;  and  in  the  Tower  the 
stout-hearted,  liberty-loving  man  is  believed  ultimately 
to  have  perished. 

His  plainness  of  speech  had  aroused  against  him 
more  than  royal  ire.  He  and  Paul  were  both  at  con- 
stant feud  with  the  prelates.  On  one  occasion  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  announced,  in  the  hearing 
of  Peter,  that  it  was  the  function  of  Parliament  to  pass 
articles  of  religion  approved  of  by  the  clergy  without 
note  or  comment.  "  No,"  said  the  indomitable  icono- 
clast, "  by  the  faith  we  bear  to  God,  we  will  pass  nothing 
before  we  understand  what  it  is ;  for  that  were  but  to 
make  you  popes.  Make  j^ou  popes  who  list,  we  will 
make  you  none." 

Through  the  member  for  Chelsea,  Elizabethan  Peter 
yet  speaketh.  And  how  modern  is  it  all !  How  little 
real  progress  have  the  English  people  made  in  liberty 
since  these  indignant  words  were  uttered  three  centuries 
ago !  Nay,  may  it  not  even  be  doubted  whether  in 
some  respects  we  have  not  even  lost  ground  ?  Have  we 
not  still  bishops  thrusting  down  our  throats  articles  of 
religion  which  neither  they  nor  we  can  understand? 
Have  we  not  likewise  our  royal  '4 messages  "  respecting 
manifold  dowries  and  annuities,  duly  heralded  by  sinis- 
ter "  rumors  "  of  royal  "  displeasance,"  which  inconti- 
nently convert  honorable  members  into  a  troop  of  couit 


42         EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

flunkies,  and  make  even  Liberal  Ministers  deliver  them- 
selves of  "  ti'aitorous,  sugared  speeches,"  enough  to 
make  Peter  and  Paul  Wentworth  turn  in  their  coffins  ? 

"  Age,  thou  art  shamed ! 
Kome,  thou  hast  lost  the  breed  of  noble  bloods  I 
Oh !  you  and  I  have  heard  our  fathers  say 
There  was  a  Brutus  once,  that  would  have  brook'd 
The  eternal  devil  to  keep  his  state  in  Rome 
As  easily  as  a  king." 

Sir  Charles  Wentworth  Dilke,  M.P.,  is  the  eldest  son 
of  Sir  Charles  Wentworth  DUke,  first  baronet,  and 
grandson  of  Charles  Wentworth  Dilke,  the  celebrated 
critic,  whose  literary  judgment  and  administrative  talent 
were  the  chief  stock  in  trade  both  of  "  The  Athenaeum  " 
and  "  The  Daily  News  "  in  their  3"ounger  da3's. 

Sir  Charles's  father,  as  is  well  known,  was  much 
devoted  to  matters  affecting  art  and  industry,  and  was 
a  leading  promoter  of  the  great  Exhibition  of  1851. 
As  some  acknowledgment  of  his  eminent  services,  he 
was  offered,  and  accepted,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  his 
father  the  critic,  a  baronetcy.  The  old  gentleman  was 
an  inflexible  Radical ;  and  Sir  Charles  may  be  said,  in 
all  his  mental  and  moral  characteristics,  to  be  the  son 
of  his  grandfather  rather  than  of  his  father.  He 
was  the  preceptor  and  companion  of  Dilke 's  youth. 
He  was  an  antiquary  as  well  as  a  critic,  and  loved  to 
trace  the  descent  of  grandson  "Charley's"  mother 
from  the  gentle  and  unselfish  regicide  Cawley  as  a  noble 
pattern  for  her  to  set  before  her  son. 

The  future  membeg  for  Chelsea  was  bom  in  the 
borough  which  he  now  represents  in  September,  1843. 
He  is  consequently  in  his  ttdrty-seventh  j'ear.  At  the 
second  of  two  private  schools  which  he  attended  in  the 


SIR  CHARLES   W.   DILKE.  43 

metropolis,  he  displayed  mathematical  talent ;  and  in 
due  course  he  matriculated  at  Trinity  Hall,  Cambridge, 
with  the  intention  of  pursuing  with  assiduity  his  favor- 
ite study,  in  which  he  obtained  a  scholarship.  He 
soon,  however,  changed  his  mind,  and  betook  himself 
to  law,  as  calculated  to  bear  more  directly  on  a  parlia- 
mentarj^  career,  for  which  he  very  early  determined  to 
qualify  himself.  He  worked  hard,  and  was  easily 
senior  in  the  Law  Tripos  for  1865. 

In  1866  he  was  called  to  the  bar  by  the  Honorable 
Society  of  the  Middle  Temple.  Shortly  afterwai-ds  he 
started  on  a  "  round  the  world  "  journey  of  two  years' 
duration.  The  trip  bore  excellent  fruit  in  the  well- 
known  work  "Greater  Britain,"  which,  in  the  first 
year  of  its  publication,  ran  thi'ough  four  editions. 

In  1868  he  was  returned  to  Parliament  for  Chelsea 
by  a  majority  of  nearly  two  to  one  ;  and  again  in  1874 
he  headed  the  poU,  notwithstanding  an  opposition  of 
unexampled  violence. 

Sprung  from  a  race  of  journalists  and  litterateurs,  his 
pen  is  never  long  idle.  Since  the  publication  of 
"Greater  Britain"  he  has  found  time  to  publish  the 
"FaU  of  Prince  Florestan  of  Monaco,"  and  to  edit, 
under  the  title  "  Papers  of  a  Critic,"  his  grandfather's 
chief  contributions  to  the  pages  of  "  The  Athenajum," 
which  paper  he  owns  and  occasionally  edits. 

Since  his  former  travels  he  has  been  ' '  round  the 
world"  a  second  time,  his  chief  object  being  to  ac- 
quaint himself  with  the  state  and  prospects  of  Japan. 
He  has  visited  every  English-speaking  corner  of  the 
globe,  is  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  condition  of 
our  Indian  Empire,  and  is  better  acquainted  with  the 
language,  literalture,  people,  and  government  of  Eussia 
than  any  man  in  the  House. 


44         EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

He  is  perhaps  the  first  thorouglily  competent  English- 
inau  who  has  ever  seen  and  described  the  men.  manners, 
and  institutions  of  the  United  States  as  they  really  are, 
and  not  as  they  are  wont  to  appear  to  the  jaundiced  e^e 
of  national  jealousy  and  aiistocratic  aversion.  The 
American  Republic  is  substantially  Sir  Charles's 
"  Greater  Britain,"  to  which  he  foresees  the  hegemony 
of  the  English-speaking  race  is  ultimately  destined  to 
fall.  He  believes  in  the  possibility  of  one  omnipotent, 
all-embracing  federation  of  English-speaking  men,  of 
which  the  United  States  shall  at  once  supply  both  the 
nucleus  and  the  model. 

In  the  study  of  foreign  affairs  he  has  taken  nothing 
for  granted.  Every  thing  he  has  examined  on  the 
spot  and  verified  with  his  own  eyes.  As  Under-Secre- 
tary for  Foreign  Affairs,  and  mouthpiece  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  that  department  of  state  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, Sir  Charles  inspires  universal  confidence. 

Like  INIr.  Gladstone,  he  is  an  untiring  toiler,  and 
from  the  first  he  has  worked  on  the  most  profitable 
lines.  Whether  as  law-student,  traveller,  author,  jour- 
nalist, or  politician,  whatever  he  has  done,  he  has  done 
faithfully  and  well.  Ever}^  recess  he  shuns  delights, 
and  spends  laborious  holidays  at  his  romantic  pro- 
vincial retreat  at  La  Sainte  Campagne,  near  Toulon, 
in  digesting  materials  for  a  magnum  opus,  "The  His- 
tory of  the  Present  Century." 

He  is  personally  a  total  abstainer,  though  opposed  to 
the  Permissive  Bill,  and  is  in  all  things  a  pattern  of 
method  and  regularity  of  habits. 

At  Cambridge  he  was  a  finished  oarsman.  He  is 
likewise  a  vigorous  long-distance  walker,  a  good  marks- 
man, and  a  defb  fencer. 


SIR   CHARLES   W.   DILKE.  45 

In  nothing  has  he  shown  such  marked  improvement 
as  in  his  style  of  public  speaking.  Though  twice  pres- 
ident of  the  Union  Debating  Society  at  Cambridge,  he 
was  at  first  a  most  unimpressive  speaker :  I  hesitate  to 
use  his  own  teim,  "  lugubrious:"  But  now  it  is  not  so. 
He  is  fluent,  easy,  and  agreeable,  —  one  of  the  best 
level  business  speakers  in  Parliament.  As  for  the  mat- 
ter, that  has  at  all,  times  been  such  as  to  redeem  the 
worst  faults  of  manner ;  just  a  little  too  much  of  it  at 
a  time,  perhaps, — more,  at  least,  than  can  be  well 
digested  by  a  mass  meeting  even  of  Chelsea  electors,  — 
but  not  one  word  in  bad  taste,  "nothing  extenuated, 
nothing  set  down  in  malice." 

When  he  has  been  reviled,  —  and  who  ever  was  more 
villanously  overwhelmed  by  a  hunicane  of  abuse?  —  he 
reviled  not  again.  Like  the  soul  of  honor  that  he  is, 
he  has  never  stooped  to  personal  invective.  Under  the 
severest  provocation  he  has  said  nothing  to  wound  the 
susceptibilities  of  the  most  sensitive.  In  this  respect 
he  has  set  an  example  to  some  of  our  foremost  public 
men.  Comes  this  extraordinaiy  forbearance  of  grace 
or  of  nature?  it  maybe  asked.  By/iature,  I  should 
say.  To  him  opposition  from  men  or  things  is  of 
exactly  the  same  character.  It  is  something  to  be 
overcome  by  patience  and  pressure  in  the  line  of  the 
least  resistance.  In  other  words,  the  member  for 
Chelsea  is  lacking  in  sj'mpathy.  He  is  fitted  to  be- 
come a  great  parliamentary  leader  rather  than  a  popu- 
lar agitator.  His  political  aims,  it  is  true,  are  much 
the  same  as  were  those  of  passionate  old  Peter  Went- 
worth,  his  ancestor ;  but  it  would  never  for  a  moment 
occur  to  him  to  wish  that  the  most  impudent  of  royal 
begging  messages  should  be  incontinently  buried  in 


46  EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

hell.  Indeed,  if  in  insisting  on  some  explanations 
being  given  with  respect  to  the  monstrous  abuses  of  tlie 
civil  list,  and  if  in  affirming  his  preference  for  a  con- 
stitutional republic  based  on  merit  to  a  monarch}', 
however  limited,  founded  on  bii-th,  he  had  shown  more 
anger  and  less  reason,  sneers  would  have  been  regarded 
as'  the  onl}'  weapon  necessar}'  to  employ  against  him. 
It  was  the  very  fact  that  he  used  arguments  which 
every  snob  in  England  knew  to  be  unanswerable  that 
the  ro3'alist  tempest  —  what  I  maj'  call  the  ' '  white 
terror  "  — was  evoked. 

It  maj'  here  be  convenient  to  consider  the  repub- 
lican episode  in  his  career.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  ro3^alty  was  alarmed,  that  its  numerous  hangers-on 
were  alarmed,  and  that  the  privileged  classes  generally, 
whose  own  existence  depends  on  the  maintenance  of 
the  monarchical  superstition  as  an  article  of  the  popular 
faith,  were  thoroughl}'^  alarmed. 

"*Kmgs  most  commonly,"  says  Milton,  "though 
strong  in  legions,  are  but  weak  at  argument,  as  the}'  who 
have  ever  been  accustomed  from  their  cradle  to  use 
their  will  only  aa  their  right  hand,  their  reason  alwaj's 
as  their  left.  Whence,  unexpectedly  constrained  to 
that  kind  of  combat,  they  prove  but  weak  and  puny 
adversaries."  The  Royalists  made  up  for  the  weakness 
of  their  arguments  bj^  the  weight  of  their  brickbats. 
At  Bolton,  while  Sir  Charles  was  addressing  a  large 
audience  admitted  by  ticket,  the  place  of  meeting  was 
assailed  by  a  furious  mob  of  Royalists,  who  succeeded 
in  murdering  one  peaceable  Radical,  William  Scofield, 
a  worldng-man,  and  wounding  several  others.  '  The 
magistrates  and  the  police  both  scandalously  failed  in 
theh'  duty  on  the  occasion,  and  to  this  da}*  their  con- 
duct has  never  been  adequately  explained. 


SIR   CHARLES   W.   DILKE.  47 

If  the  blood  of  an  innocent  man  had  been  shed  by 
republican  hands,  what  a  howl  for  vengeance  would 
there  not  have  been  heard  !  At  Reading,  the  late  Mr. 
George  Odger,  than  whom  a  more  able  and  upright 
politician  never  lived,  was  within  an  ace  of  meeting  the 
fate  of  Scofield. 

The  leading  organ  of  the  "party  of  order,"  "The 
Standard,"  threatened  the  representative  of  Chelsea 
with  physical  violence.  "  The  attachment  of  English- 
men for  the  royal  family,"  it  said,  "  may  take  an 
unpleasantly  practical  form  if  Sir  Charles  DUke  should 
ever  insult  a  party  of  gentlemen  by  repeating  in  their 
presence  calumnies  such  as  he  was  permitted  to  utter 
with  impunity  before  the  '  roughs  '  of  Newcastle." 

It  is  here  worth  putting  on  record  the  worst  that  Sir 
Charles  did  say  in  the  famous  addi'ess  alluded  to.  The 
meeting  was  held  in  November,  1871 ;  Mr.  Joseph 
Ccfwen  in  the  chair.  This  was  the  head  and  front  of 
his  offending :  "  There  is  a  widespread  belief  that  a 
republic  here  is  only  a  matter  of  education  and  time. 
It  is  said  that  some  day  a  commonwealth  will  be  our 
form  of  government.  Now,  history  and  experience 
show  that  you  cannot  have  a  republic  without  you 
possess  at  the  same  time  the  republican  virtues ;  but 
you  answer,  Have  we  not  public  spirit  ?  have  we  not  the 
practice  of  self-government?  are  not  we  gaining  gen- 
eral education?  "Well,  if  you  can  show  me  a  fair 
chance  that  a  republic  here  will  be  free  from  the  polit- 
ical coiTuption  that  hangs  about  a  monarch}',  I  say  for 
m}^  part,  —  and  I  believe  that  the  middle  classes  in 
general  will  say,  —  Let  it  come." 

The  answer  should  have  been.  We  Englishmen  have 
not  public  spirit ;  we  have  not  the  practice  of  self-gov- 


48  EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAJIENT. 

emment ;  we  do  not  possess  the  republican  virtues  of 
independence  and  self-respect,  without  which  there  can 
be  no  genuine  republic.  We  love  to  deceive  both  our- 
selves and  others.  It  is  the  "name"  of  liberty  that 
we  affect :  the  "  thing  "  itself  is  unknown  to  us. 

Is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  Sir  Charles  Dilke,  fresh 
from  brighter  countries,  like  the  United  States,  where 
self-government  is  a  reality,  should  have  misconstrued 
the  reply  of  an  oracle  so  ambiguous  and  untrustworthy? 
But  no  harm  has  been  done  by  his  miscalculation,  — 
rather  much  good.  The  country  has  been  made  to 
know  that  it  has  at  least  one  public  man  of  first-rate 
abilit}^  and  dauntless  courage,  who  is  not  afraid  to  rec- 
oncile administrative  practice  with  the  best  political 
theory  whenever  the  people  are  prepared  to  abandon 
their  unworthy  idols,  and  to  look  the  facts  of  history, 
experience,  and  comilion  sense  straight  in  the  face. 

And,  as  for  Sir  Charles,  he  is  an  imperturbable,  good- 
natured  man,  who  doubtless  considers  that  he  took 
ample  revenge  on  his  unscrupulous  calumniators  when 
he  published  anonymously  his  clever  brochure,  the 
"  Fall  of  Prince  Florestan  of  Monaco."  Several  lead- 
ing Tory  journals  advised  him  to  lay  the  lessons  taught 
by  the  Radical  Prince  of  Monaco  to  heart.  How  he 
must  have  chuckled !  It  is  only  natures  of  the  largest 
and  healthiest  mould  that  are  thus  capable  of  looking 
amusedly  at  the  comical  aspect  of  their  own  doings. 

In  the  domain  of  cuiTcnt  domestic  legislation.  Sir 
Charles  has  played  no  unimportant  part.  It  is  to  him 
we  owe  the  popular  constitution  of  our  school  boards, 
it  having  been  Mr.  Forster's  original  intention  to  intrust 
the  duties  of  school  management  to  committees  of 
boards  of  guardians. 


Sm   CHARLES   W.   DILKE.  49 

His  also  was  the  clause  which  conferred  the  munici- 
pal franchise  on  female  ratepayers.  He  procured  for 
the  working-men  of  London  a  most  desirable  boon  in 
the  extension  of  the  hours  of  polling  ;  and  in  every  thing 
appertaining  to  the  better  representation  of  the  people 
in  Parliament  he  has  taken  a  leading  part.  On  the  all- 
important  question  of  the  redistribution  of  political 
power  in  particular,  he  is,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  the 
greatest  authority  in  the  House.  Like  John  Bright,  he 
loves  the  big  constituencies,  and  would,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble, make  them  all  numerically  equal. 

He  is  not  ordinarily  an  amusing  speaker ;  but  one  of 
his  speeches  on  the  unreformed  coiporations  will  rank 
among  the  wittiest  delivered  by  any  member  since  he 
entered  the  House.  His  collected  speeches  on  elec- 
toral refonn,  the  civil  list,  free  trade,  free  land,  and 
free  schools,  are  a  ready  repertory  of  trustworthy 
facts,  which  ought  to  be  in  the  hands  of  every  re- 
former. With  respect  to  the  Zulu  war,  in  the  session 
of  1879,  he  was  intrusted  with  the  lead  in  opposition 
to  the  Government  polic}' ,  —  a  sufficient  indication 
of  the  respect  entertained  for  his  judgment  in  critical 
issues. 

In  every  department  he  is  a  friend  of  economy.  In 
Parliament  he  is  ever  vigilant,  and  never  fussy.  When 
he  speaks,  it  is  alwaj's  to  contribute  some  new  fact  or 
unused  argument  to  the  debate ;  and  he  never  fails 
to  catch  the  ear  of  the  -House,  which  is  never  insen- 
sible to  straightforwardness,  manly  bearing,  and  unre- 
mitting attention  to  parliamentary  duty.  He  is  well 
versed  in  the  forms  of  the  House.  Above  all,  he  has 
honest}'  and  excellent  common  sense  to  guide  his  steps 
aright. 


60         EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

If,  with  all  these  endowments,  he  should  fail  in  the 
not  distant  future  to  achieve  great  things  for  his  coun- 
try, both  I  and  man}^  other  observant  sj'mpathizere, 
"whose  judgment  cries  in  the  top  of  mine,"  wUl  feel 
just  cause  for  sore  disappointment. 


V. 

JOSEPH  COWEN. 

"  Like  one  of  the  simple  great  ones, 
Gone  for  ever  and  ever  by." 

I  SHALL  never  forget  one  delightful  forenoon  I 
spent  with  Mr.  Cowen  since  his  entrance  into 
Parliament.  Pi'evious  to  his  coming  to  St.  Stephen's, 
he  had  been  well  known  to  me  by  reputation,  but  by 
reputation  only.  . 

As  the  disciple  whom  Mazzini,  the  prophet  and  high 
priest  of  modern  democracy,  loved,  I  was  curious  to 
know  what  manner  of  man  the  great  Northumbrian 
Radical  reallj^  was.  I  arrived  early,  and  found  him  in 
his  library  in  the  act  of  finishing  his  morning  corre- 
spondence. I  had  just  time  to  glance  at  his  books 
before  engaging  with  him  in  conversation.  A  man 
may  be  known  by  his  books  as  by  the  company-  he 
keeps.  They  were  almost  exclusively  composed  of  the 
most  recent  productions  of  the  democratic  press,  such 
as  one  would  expect  to  find  on  the  shelves  of  an  intel- 
ligent artisan  politician  rather  than  on  those  of  the 
possessor  of  a  residence  in  Onslow  Square.  And  the 
appearance  of  Mr.  Cowen  himself  was  exactly  in  keep- 
ing. His  features  bore  no  trace  whatever  of  having 
been  imported  "at  the  Conquest."  There  he  sat,  a 
genuine  workman  from  Tjneside,  the  descendant  of 

51 


52  EAHNENT   LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

generations  of  honest  toilers,  — plain  and  homely  to  a 
degree.  Nothing  but  the  lofty  dome  of  brow  betraj'ed 
the  mental  superiority  of  the  man ;  and,  when  subse- 
quently he  put  on  the  never-failing  slouched  hat,  even 
that  not  infallible  sign  of  greatness  was  remorselessly 
hidden  away. 

Presently  we  began  to  talk  as  freely  as  if  we  had 
been  acquainted  for  years.  The  villanous  Northum- 
brian intonation  was  at  first  somewhat  of  an  impedi- 
ment in  my  way.  I  have  never  learned  Northumbrian, 
and,  being  a  fair  linguist,  did  not  like  to  acknowledge 
my  ignorance. 

One  or  two  proper  names  he  was  good  enough  to 
spell  for  me.  As,  however,  he  gradually  became  more 
animated,  his  English  became  better  and  better,  until  at 
last  he  was  one  of  the  most  articulate-speaking  of 
Englishmen  I  had  ever  met. 

It  was  a  lovely  day ;  and  we  decided  on  a  stroll  in 
the  direction,  as  it  turned  out,  of  the  modest  house 
where  Mazzini  consphed  against  the  crowned  heads 
of  Europe  for  so  many  j-ears.  On  the  way  he  spoke  of 
that  gifted  friend  of  his  youth  and  manhood,  —  the 
greatest  man,  Mr.  Cowen  thinks,  and  I  am  half  in- 
clined to  accept  his  estimate,  that  Europe  has  produced 
for  centuries  ;  of  Garibaldi  and  Orsini,  of  Kossuth,  of 
Herzen  and  Bakounin,  of  Lediii  Rollin  and  Louis 
Blanc,  but,  above  all,  of  the  Polish  revolutionary'  lead- 
ers, Worcell,  Darasz,  Mieroslawski,  Dombrowski,  and 
Langiewicz. 

I  inquired  why,  of  all  the  continental  exiles,  he 
appeared  to  have  Ijeen  most  drawn  towards  the  Poles. 
He  replied  with  profound  feeling,  "Because  they 
seemed  the  most  forlorn."     There  was  no  getting  over 


JOSEPH   COWEN".  63 

this  answer,  which  throws  a  flood  of  light  on  the  de- 
plorable action  which  Mr.  Cowen  has  seen  fit  to  take 
with  regard  to  the  Eastern  question. 

For  years  his  house  at  Blajdon  Burn,  near  New- 
castle, had  been  an  asylum  for  the  victims  of  Russian 
tyranny.  For  years  he  had  spent  two-thirds  of  an 
ample  income  in  keeping  alive  the  patriotism  of  the 
Polish  insurgents  and  other  enemies  of  the  White  Tsar. 
To  him  Poland  was  and  is  a  land  of  heroes  and  mar- 
t3'rs  ;  Russia  every  thing  that  is  the  reverse.  So  thor- 
oughly indentified  was  Mr.  Cowen  with  the  anti-Russian 
sentiments  of  the  Polish  and  Hungarian  exiles,  that 
orders  were  issued  by  all  the  despotic  powers  of  Eu- 
rope—  by  Russia,  Prussia,  France,  Spain,  and  Italy  — 
for  his  aiTCst  should  he  venture  to  set  foot  on  their 
soil. 

Not  able  to  catch  the  son,  the  police  twice  arrested 
his  father,  the  late  Sir  Joseph  Cowen,  in  his  stead. 
His  home  at  Blaydon  Bum  was  incessantl}^  watched  by 
the  spies  of  continental  governments. 

When  Cowen  and  Mazzini  met,  it  was  neither  in 
Newcastle  nor  London,  but  generally  in  some  quiet  mid- 
way town  or  village,  where  they  could  not  readily  be 
subjected  to  espionage.  The  despots  of  the  continent 
had,  in  point  of  fact,  very  good  reason  to  regard  Mr. 
Cowen  as  a  dangerous  personage.  He  was  not  merely 
a  wealth}'  Englishman  who  gave  of  his  substance  freel}' 
in  order  that  the  axe  might  be  laid  by  others  to  the 
root  of  the  upas-tree  of  their  authorit}',  but  one  who 
did  not  scruple,  when  occasion  offered,  to  levy  war 
against  the  oppressors,  so  to  speak,  on  his  own  ac- 
count. 

Diu'ing  the  last  rising  in  Poland  he  fitted  out,  at  his 


64         EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN  PARLTAIHENT. 

own  charges,  a  vessel,  which  it  was  intended  should 
hoist  the  Polish  flag,  and,  like  another  "Alabama," 
sweep  Russian  commerce  off  the  seas.  She  escaped 
from  the  Tyne  without  much  difficulty,  and  reached 
Barcelona  in  safety.  Her  next  destination  was  the 
coast  of  the  little  island  of  Elba,  where  a  Polish  commo- 
dore of  experience,  who  had  come  all  the  wa}'  from  the 
Russian  naval  ,  station  at.  Kamtchatka,  —  on  French 
leave,  of  course,  — was  waiting  with  a  full  complement 
of  marines  to  take  possession  in  the  name  of  the  Pro- 
visional Government  at  Wai-saw.  The}^  waited  in  vain. 
The  drunken  ravings  and  cowardice  of  the  English  crew 
brought  about  the  seizure  and  confiscation  of  the  ves- 
sel by  the  Spanish  authorities  almost  in  spite  of  them- 
selves. The  chief  naval  authority  of  the  port  was  at 
that  time  a  brother  of  General  Prim,  himself  a  revo- 
lutionary. He  winked  hard  ;  and  it  so  happened,  curi- 
ously enough,  that  the  only  Spanish  man-of-war  availa- 
ble for  seizing  her  was  under  the  command  of  an 
Englishman,  formerty  a  Newcastle  engineer,  who,  on 
being  sent  to  inspect  the  ship  and  her  papers,  winked 
harder  still.  With  reasonable  promptitude  she  might 
have  got  clear  off,  but  did  not,  to  the  great  gi-ief  of  Mr. 
Cowen  and  the  Provisional  Government  of  Poland. 

The  above  is  but  one  out  of  scores  of  daring  enter- 
prises with  a  similar  object  in  which  Mr.  Cowen  has 
been  engaged.  Once  he  had  a  wonderful  box  con- 
structed, and  well  lined  with  notes  suitable  for  issue  by 
the  Secret  Committee  of  Government  over  which 
Langiewicz  presided.  It  was  given  in  charge  to  a 
faithful  messenger,  with  instructions  to  seek  the  head- 
quarters of  the  insurgents  by  a  somewhat  devious 
route.     No  sooner  did  he  set  foot  on  the  cjontinent, 


JOSEPH   COWEN.  55 

however,  than  he  was  seized  by  the  police  and  put  in 
prison.  He  was  never  tried,  and  never  told  his  offence  ; 
but  the  contents  of  the  well-filled  purse  with  which  he 
had  started  from  England  were  weekly  disbursed  to 
pay  his  board  for  the  space  of  a  whole  year.  At  the 
end  of  that  time  he  was  put  on  board  a  ship  bound  for 
London,  and  landed  penniless. 

Regarding  the  adventures,  misadventures,  and  hair- 
breadth escapes  of  proscribed  Poles,  Italians,  and  Hun- 
garians, Mr.  Cowen  has  many  a  curious  and  pathetic 
tale  to  tell.  He  was  the  chief  banker  and  general  agent 
in  this  country  of  the  European  revolutionaries.  Nearly 
all  their  more  important  correspondence  passed  through 
his  hands  on  its  way  to  and  from  the  continent ;  and  for 
long  his  commanding  position  as  a  British  manufac- 
turer and  shipowner,  doing  business  in  all  parts  of  Eu- 
rope, effectually  baffled  the  most  vigilant  espionage  of 
the  despotic  powers. 

Having  seen  the  abode  of  the  great  Italian,  we  turned 
into  Hj'de  Park,  and  under  the  shadow  of  Albert  the 
Gilt  conversed  of  current  politics  and  Radical  living 
politicians.  He  was  very  candid,  and  I  remarked  with 
interest  how  similar  were  his  judgments  of  men  and 
things  to  those  which  I  could  readil}'  suppose  Mazzini 
would  have  formed  in  similar  circumstances.  One  able 
member  of  Parliament  was  an  atheist  to  the  backbone  ; 
and  wh}^  such  a  one  should  be  a  Radical  rather  than  a 
Tory,  or  wh}',  indeed,  being  a  wealthy  man,  he  should 
care  to  trouble  himself  about  politics  at  all,  was  a  m3-s- 
tery  to  the  member  for  Newcastle.  Another  was  lack- 
ing in  any  thing  like  genuine  sympathy  for  the  people, 
and  had  fallen  into  the  abyss  of  wire-pulling  and  politi- 
cal beadledom.     All  unconsciously  he  had  become  as 


56         EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

earnestly  eloquent  as  if  he  were  addressing  a  considera- 
ble audience,  his  usually  homely  features  admirably 
miiToring  the  thoughts  which  rose  spontaneously  to  his 
lips. 

Mr.  Cowen's  abhorrence  of  atheistic  or  unbelieving 
politicians  was  to  me  all  the  more  impressive,  that  his 
own  mind  was  evidently  not  untinged  by  sadness, — had 
not  altogether  escaped  the  influence  of  that  great  de- 
spair with  respect  to  the  supernatural  which  has  in  our 
day  overtaken  the  bravest  and  the  best. 

On  taking  leave  of  Mr.  Cowen,  I  had  no  hesitation  in 
concluding  that  I  had  never  met  a  more  singular  combi- 
nation of  simplicity  of  manner,  business-like  shrewd- 
ness, intellectual  vigor,  comprehensive  sjTnpathy,  and 
powerful  imagination.  These  qualities  appear  to  me  to 
mingle  in  disproportionate  measure  ;  but  their  co-exist- 
ence in  his  mind  affords  a  clew  to  the  surprising  splen- 
dor of  his  imagery,  which,  if  the  House  had  had  a  few 
more  samples  of  it,  might  almost  justify  me  in  ranking 
him  next  to  Bright  as  a  master  of  senatorial  eloquence. 

K  great  poets  are  born,  not  made,  so  likewise  are 
great  orators  ;  and  sure  enough  Mr.  Cowen  is  one  of  the 
few  really  great  orators  in  the  House.  His  style  is  nei- 
ther that  of  Bright,  Gladstone,  nor  Beaconsfield.  His 
best  periods  have  an  antique,  Roman-like  stateliness, 
which  is  to  me  peculiarly  attractive.  In  their  majestic 
roll  they  are  more  like  those  of  the  late  Ledni  RoUin 
than  of  any  modern  speaker. 

Mr.  Cowen  was  born  at  Blaydon  Bum,  near  New- 
castle, in  the  month  of  July,  1831.  His  father,  Sir 
Joseph  Cowen,  knight,  who  preceded  him  in  the  repre- 
sentation of  Newcastle,  was  originally  a  woi"king  black- 
smith.    He  was  of  an  inventive  turn  of  mind ;  and,  when 


JOSEPH  COWEN.  67 

the  discovery  of  gas  began  to  be  utilized,  he  hit  on  sev- 
eral ingenious  contrivances  for  facilitating  its  manufac- 
ture. Before  long  he  was  a  wealthy  man,  and  one  of 
the  most  respected  and  public-spirited  citizens  of  New- 
castle. It  is  to  his  untiring  exertions  and  foresight  that 
Newcastle  in  a  great  measure  owes  its  mercantile  pros- 
perity. He  found  the  Tyne  a  shallow  stream,  up  which 
vessels  of  the  smallest  draught  could  with  difficulty  sail. 
He  left  it  so  deepened  that  it  is  now  one  of  the  most 
navigable  of  rivers.  The  merit  of  this  great  achieve- 
ment was  publicly  recognized  by  Mr.  Gladstone,  who, 
in  consequence,  had  him  dubbed  knight,  —  a  distinction, 
however,  to  which  he  was  indifferent.  From  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  of  his  career  he  was  a  Radical  reformer. 
The  Cowens  are  a  somewhat  numerous  family,  and 
have  been  settled  in  and  around  Blaydon  Bum  for 
about  three  centuries.  They  came  originally  from  Lin- 
disfarne,  or  Holy  Isle,  of  which  the  stock  had  been 
denizens  from  a  remote  antiquity.  The  Cowens  were 
among  the  first  genuine  English  co-operators  on  record, 
—  co-operators  in  production  as  well  as  in  distribution. 
They  were  for  generations  members  of  a  singular 
society,  instituted  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century  by  an  enterprising  manufactm-er,  Crowley  —  the 
"  Sir  John  Anvil "  of  Addison's  "  Spectator,"  — whose 
members  worshipped  in  common,  fed  in  common,  and 
shared  equally  in  the  common  profits  of  their  industry. 
This  society  was  not  disrupted  till  1814,  in  the  life- 
time of  Mr.  Cowen's  grandfather.  Since  then,  it  may 
be  worth  remarking,  co-operation  has  again,  under  i\Ir. 
Cowen's  fostering  care,  taken  a  firm  hold  on  Bla^'don- 
on-Tyne.  Though  Blajdon  is  a  mere  vUlage,  Mr. 
Holyoake,  in  his  "  History  of  Co-operation,"  declares 


58  EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

that  next  to  Rochdale  it  has  the  most  remarkable  store 
in  England.  It  has  grown  from  a  house  to  a  street. 
The  librar}^  contains  upwards  of  fifteen  hundred  vol- 
umes of  new  books.  The  profits  for  1876  amounted 
to  eighty-five  thousand  dollars.  The  society  has  an 
education  fund  of  two  thousand  dollars  per  annum. 
"WTien  the  Co-operative  Congress  met  at  Newcastle  in 
1873,  Mr.  Cowen,  not  then  M.P.,  was  elected  president, 
and  delivered  an  address  the  remembrance  of  which 
still  lives  in  co-operative  circles. 

Mr.  Cowen 's  earl}'  education  was  received  at  a  good 
local  school,  whence  he  proceeded  to  the  Universit}^  of 
Edinburgh,  which  then,  by  reason  of  the  renown  of  its 
professors,  enjoyed  something  lilce  European  fame. 
Russell,  Palmerston,  Lansdowne,  had  been  there  before 
him.  Christopher  North  still  lectured,  and  Lord 
Macaulay  represented  the  city  in  Parliament.  With 
no  professional  object  in  view,  young  Cowen  sought 
simply  culture ;  and  that  he  found  to  more  purpose, 
perhaps,  than  it  would  have  been  possible  for  him  to 
do  elsewhere.  He  studied  what  subjects  he  pleased, 
preferring  the  time-honored  classics  ;  became  president 
of  the  University  Debating  Societj^ ;  and  entered  hearti- 
ly into  the  political  and  social  life  of  the  citizens.  His 
chief  extra-mural  instructor  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  John 
Ritchie,  —  a  really  great  man  in  a  small  community. 
Though  a  preacher,  and  a  Scottish  preacher  too,  he 
was  above  sophistrj'^,  an  intrepid  Radical,  and  a  first- 
rate  platform  speaker. 

About  this  time,  also,  Mr.  Cowen,  while  yet  an  Edin- 
burgh student,  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mazzini,  who 
subsequently  exercised  over  him  an  influence  so  remark- 
able.    Young  as  he  was,  Mr.  Cowen  had  entered  an 


JOSEPH   COWEN,  59 

indignant  public  protest  against  the  infamous  and,  till 
it  was  proved,  incredible  violation  of  the  illustrious 
exile's  letters  by  Sir  James  Graham  and  the  post-office 
officials.  Mazzini  was  interested  in  his  youthful  de- 
fender, thanked  him  by  letter,  and  to  Mr.  Cowen  were 
addressed  the  dying  patriot's  last  written  words. 

On  returning  to  Blaydon,  Mr.  Cowen  engaged  actively 
in  his  father's  business  of  fire-proof  brick  and  retort 
manufacture,  the  firm  normally  employing  as  many  as 
a  thousand  hands.  At  the  Blajdon  works  there  have 
been  no  strikes,  for  the  very  good  reason  that  Mr. 
Cowen,  though  an  employer  of  labor,  has  always  been 
regarded  as  an  intelligent  exponent  of  trades-union 
views,  —  in  short,  as  a  trusted  trades-union  leader. 
His  support  of  the  nine-hours  movement  was  from  first 
to  last  of  a  most  decided  character,  and  such  as  everj^- 
where  to  evoke  the  warmest  feelings  of  gratitude  among 
workmen.  His  persistent  efforts,  too,  to  found,  im- 
prove, and  federate  mechanics'  institutes  all  over  the 
populous  Tyneside  district  ought  not  to  be  forgotten. 
For  many  3'ears  he  personally  discharged  the  duties  of 
a  teacher  in  one  of  these  institutions,  which  owe  so 
much  of  their  success  to  his  enthusiasm  and  talent  as 
organizing  secretary. 

Nor  has  Mr.  Cowen  been  less  active  in  the  domain 
of  pure  politics,  whether  local  or  imperial.  He  is 
now  president  of  the  Northern  Reform  League,  —  an 
organization  which  has  been  in  existence  in  one  form 
or  another  for  more  than  twenty  3*ears.  He  was  pres- 
ent at  its  inception,  and  acted  as  its  first  treasurer.  In 
the  Reform  demonstrations  of  18G7  the  league  played 
an  important  part,  calling  out  an  array  of  supporters 
which  the  metropolis  itself  could  hardly  match. 


60  EJUNENT  LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

To  add  to  all  these  manifold  activities,  Mr.  Cowen 
has  for  twenty  years  been  the  proprietor  and  polit- 
ical director  of  "The  Newcastle  Chronicle,"  one  of  the 
most  influential  journals  in  provincial  England.  It  has 
writers,  who,  for  range  of  political  knowledge  and 
absolute  fidelity  to  principle,  have  no  superiors  in  or 
out  of  London.  The  result  was  seen  at  the  general 
election  of  1874.  "When  the  Conserv^ative  re-action  ran 
high  everywhere  else,  the  Northumbrian  Liberals  smote 
their  Tory  opponents  hip  and  thigh  all  along  the  line. 
Twelve  Liberals  to  one  Tory  were  the  Durham  district 
returns. 

In  1852  appeared  "The  English  Republic"  and 
"The  Northern  Tribune,"  republican  prints,  pitched 
in  a  very  lofty  key ;  and  to  these  Mr.  Cowen  con- 
tributed largely  in  prose,  verse,  and,  what  was  even 
more  essential,  money.  In  those  daj-s  Mr.  Cowen  was 
in  fact,  I  presume,  what  he  now  is  only  in  theory,  a 
stanch  republican. 

With  regard  to  Mr.  Cowen' s  parliamentary  cai'eer,  it 
is  hard  to  speak  with  impartiality.  His  fei-vid  Jingoism 
has  affected  with  profound  regret  his  warmest  admirers, 
myself  among  the  rest.  There  have  not  even  been 
wanting  some  base  enough  to  attribute  his  support 
of  the  wicked  and  disastrous  foreign  policy  of  the 
Beaconsfield  government  to  motives  other  than  disinter- 
ested. The  true  explanation  of  his  aberration  is  quite 
otherwise.  He  is  still  a  Hungarian,  a  Polish  insur- 
gent. Nothing  is  changed.  Russia  is  his  mortal  foe. 
Like  a  true  Bourbon,  he  has  neither  learned  nor  for- 
gotten. Any  stick  is  good  enough  to  beat  the  Musco- 
vite dog  with.  He  advocated  the  Crimean  war  in  the 
hope  that  something  might  "turn  up"  for  his  exiled 


JOSEPH  COWEN-.  61 

clients.  Nothing  came  of  it ;  but  a  fig  for  experience  ! 
Mr.  Cowen  is,  lilie  the  great  author  and  finisher  of 
his  faith,  Mazzini,  essentially  an  idealist,  a  poet  with 
intense  s^'mpathy  and  vivid  imagination.  His  s^-mpa- 
th}'  and  imagination  have  temporarily  overwhelmed  his 
reason :  that  is  all,  —  nothing  better,  nothing  worse. 
If  I  were  to  have  the  making  of  two  perfect  Radical 
politicians,  I  should  mix  Dilke  and  Cowen  together. 
The  one  is  two-thirds  reason  and  one-third  imagination  ; 
the  other,  two-thu-ds  imagination  and  one-third  reason. 
Give  C.  one-thu'd  of  D.'s  reason,  and  D.  one-third  of 
C.'s  s}Tnpathetic  fancy,  and  then  you  would  have  a 
correct  balance  of  powers. 

Bright 's  is  the  onl}'  powerful  intellect  in  the  House 
in  which  reason  and  imagination  are  blended  ia  just 
and  equal  proportions,  the  imagination  acting  as  a 
stimulus  to  the  reason,  but  never  as  a  controlling 
power.  I  will  illustrate  what  I  mean  by  a  passage 
from  IMr.  Cowen's  magnificentl}^  unwise  Jingo  speech  in 
the  House  on  the  occasion  of  the  supposed  Russian  ad- 
vance on  Constantinople  :  "  I  ask  English  Liberals  if 
they  have  ever  seriousty  considered  the  political  conse- 
quences of  an  imperial  despotism  bestriding  Europe,  — 
reaching,  indeed,  from  the  waters  of  the  Neva  to  those 
of  the  Amoor,  — of  the  head  of  the  Greek  Church,  the 
Eastern  Pope,  the  master  of  many  legions,  having  one 
foot  on  the  Baltic,  planting  another  on  the  Bosphorus. 
When  icebergs  float  into  southern  latitudes,  they  freeze 
the  air  for  miles  around.  Will  not  this  political  ice- 
berg, when  it  descends  upon  the  genial  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean,  wither  the  j'oung  shoots  of  liberty  that 
are  springing  up  between  the  crevices  of  the  worn-out 
fabrics  of  despotism  ?  "     Now,  all  this  is  very  striking, 


62  EMINENT   LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAJSIENT. 

—  nay,  appalling;  but  John  Bright,  I  am  sure,  know- 
ing that  icebergs  have  a  habit  of  melting  long  before 
they  reach  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  would 
never  have  been  guilty  of  bringing  any  berg  of  his  so 
far  south.  As  it  is,  the  political  iceberg  from  the 
north  has  liberated  Bulgaria,  while  that  from  the 
south,  pushed  on  by  English  Jingoes,  has  ineffectually 
striven  to  roll  its  icy  mass  over  the  young  shoots  of 
Eoimielian  liberty. 

Apart,  however,  from  this  deplorable  Jingo  infatua- 
tion, Mr.  Cowen's  parliamentary  achievements  have  in 
no  way  belied  the  high  hopes  that  his  friends  reposed 
in  his  great  abilities  and  immense  experience.  His 
speeches  on  the  Friendly  Societies  Bill,  on  the  County 
SuflErage  Bill,  on  Mr.  PlimsoU's  bill,  on  the  County 
Courts  Bill,  the  Licensing  Boards  BUI,  and,  above  all, 
on  the  Royal  Titles  Bill,  have  given  evidence  of  a 
varied  capacity  for  legislative  work  which  has  not  been 
equalled  by  any  member  of  his  own  standing  in  the 
House. 

During  the  parliamentary  contest  in  Newcastle,  oc- 
casioned by  the  death  of  his  father,  Mr.  Cowen  de- 
livered a  series  of  speeches  on  political  questions  and 
public  policy  which  justly  arrested  national  attention. 
They  have  been  collected,  and  will  abundantly  repay 
perusal.  They  are,  without  exception,  as  fine  elec- 
tioneering speeches  as  I  ever  read,  and,  if  he  had  never 
opened  his  lips  again,  would  have  entitled  him  to  no 
mean  place  among  English  orators  and  statesmen. 

On  one  point  only  did  he  show  a  disposition  to  lower 
the  Radical  flag,  —  to  be  unfaithful  to  himself  and  liis 
glorious  antecedents.  He  was  repeatedly  taxed  with 
being  a  republican ;  and  his  explanation  was,  that  he 


JOSEPH   COWEN.  63 

held  the  republican  form  of  government  to  be  in  theory 
the  highest  known  to  man,  but  that  in  practice  he  was 
devoted  to  the  British  monarchy.  Now,  to  my  mind, 
this  is  wholly  illogical,  and  not  altogether  honest. 
Having  discovered  a  true  or  best  theory,  it  is  the  duty 
of  every  honest  man  to  act  on  it,  whether  it  be  in  the 
domain  of  politics  or  mathematics.  If  there  is  a  better 
way,  we  have  no  right  to  fold  our  hands  and  content 
ourselves  with  the  worse.  "  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and 
Mammon."  To  the  sincere  mind  all  compromise  in 
such  circumstances  is  impossible.  It  will  not  do  to 
say,  "  WeU,  no  doubt  in  theory  the  worship  of  God  is 
the  correct  thing ;  but  for  all  practical  puiposes  the  ser- 
vice of  Mammon  is  preferable."  Least  of  all  living 
English  politicians  could  I  have  conceived  of  Mr.  Jo- 
seph Cowen  appearing  on  a  public  platform  with  such 
an  impotent  formula  in  his  mouth.  In  the  case  of 
others  "thrift  might  follow  fawning;"  but  with  Mr. 
Cowen  it  was  not,  and  is  not  so.  That  he  should  not 
have  been  able  to  sa^-  to  this  contemptible  spirit  of 
subterfuge,  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan,"  is  to  me  a 
mystery  even  unto  this  day. 


VI. 

SIR  WILFRID  LAWSON. 

•'  And  though  that  he  was  witty  he  was  wise, 
And  of  his  port  as  meke  as  is  a  mayde: 
He  never  yet  no  vilanie  ne  sayde 
In  alle  his  lif,  unto  no  manere  wight  — 
He  was  a  veray  parfit  gentil  knight." 

IBELIEVf]  with  all  sound  Christian  people,  our 
mendicant  archbishops  and  bishops  included,  that 
it  is  as  impossible  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  as  for  a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a 
needle.  My  experience  has  likewise  agreed  with  that 
of  the  pagan  Fronto,  who,  JMarcus  Antoninus  saj^s,  told 
him  '  •  that  the  so-called  high-born  are  for  the  most  part 
heartless."  But,  as  is  generall}'^  admitted,  there  are 
exceptions  to  all  rules,  and  Sir  Wilfrid  Lawson  is  an 
exceptional  man.  He  is  a  baronet,  and  so  wealthy  that 
I  am  almost  afraid  to  particularize  with  regard  to  his 
income.  Having  never  suffered  the  least  inconvenience 
from  the  deceitfulness  of  riches  myself,  I  prefer  to  speak 
of  matter  more  within  the  scope  of  my  knowledge^ 
With  respect  to  Sir  Wilfrid  Lawson,  however,  I  am 
sure  of  two  things.  In  spite  of  his  baronetcy  he  is  a 
' '  jolly  good  fellow  ; ' '  and  in  spite  of  his  riches  he  may 
reasonably  hope  to  enter  in  at  the  celestial  gates,  unless 
they  are  barred  by  John  Calvin  himself,  —  a  contingency' 
which  there  is  less  and  less  reason  to  apprehend. 
61 


SIR   WILFRID   LAWSON.  65 

In  any  case  there  would  be  very  little  good  of  send- 
ing him  to  "the  other  place."  Like  the  jovial  monk 
of  the  old  church  legend,  he  would  almost  certainly,  if 
ordered  downstairs,  make  a  little  heaven  of  mirth  in 
his  own  more  immediate  neighborhood,  and  so  disturb 
general  arrangements  that  it  would  speedily  be  found 
necessary  to  have  him  removed  to  more  comfortable 
quarters.  For  not  only  is  he  witty  in  himself,  but  the 
cause  that  wit  is  in  other  men.  It  is  impossible  to  con- 
verse with  him  for  five  minutes  running  without  becom- 
ing in  some  measure  infected  by  his  irresistible  spirit  of 
"gay  wisdom,"  as  Earl  Beaconsfield  has  felicitously 
designated  his  peculiar  humor. 

It  is  a  total  mistake  to  suppose  that  Sir  Wilfrid's 
jokes  are  mere  closet  reproductions.  He  is  even  more 
witt}^  in  private  than  in  public  ;  and  you  never  meet  him 
that  he  has  not  the  air  of  a  man  who  has  just  experi- 
enced some  extraordinary  piece  of  good  luck,  in  which 
you  are  called  upon,  if  jou  are  not  an  absolute  churl, 
to  participate.  He  is  brimful  and  running  over  with 
sprightly  sallies  and  clever  epigrams.  Indeed,  they 
seem  to  come  as  naturalh^  to  him  as  dulness  to  most  of 
us.  And  his  wit  is  of  the  best  kind.  It  is  never  used 
to  wound  the  feelings  of  an}^,  but  to  laugh  men  out  of 
their  follies,  pretences,  and  insincerities.  His  keenest 
shafts  are  never  envenomed,  and  are  never  sped  except 
with  a  moral  purpose.  Were  it  otherwise,  he  might  be 
classed  with  the  humorous  light  horsemen  of  debate,  — 
of  whom  Mr.  Bernal  Osborne  was  a  favorite  specimen, 
—  in  which  case  he  would,  of  course,  be  entitled  to  no 
place  in  this  series. 

As  it  is,  I  believe  Sir  Wilfrid  Lawson  to  be  one  of 
the  most  earnest  and  trustworthy  Radicals  in  the  House 


66  EMINENT   LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

of  Commons.  Some  there  are,  doubtless,  who  hold 
that  true  moral  earnestness  is  never  to  be  found  clothed 
in  quasi-comical  attire,  —  that  facetiousness  and  Radi- 
calism are  incompatible.  Mj'  reply  is,  that  the  honorable 
member  for  Carlisle  finds  genial  satire  to  be  by  far  the 
most  effective  weapon  in  his  intellectual  armory,  and 
that,  like  a  wise  man,  he  puts  his  special  talent  to  the 
best  use  he  can.  In  skilful  hands  the  scimitar  of  Sal- 
adin  will  strike  home  as  sm^ely  as  the  battle-axe  of 
King  Richard. 

After  some  consideration  of  the  matter,  I  have  ar- 
rived at  the  conclusion  that  great  Radicals,  like  gi'eat 
poets,  are  born,  not  made.  They  inherit,  rather  than 
acquire,  the  qualities  of  intellect  and  heart  which  enable 
them  to  point  the  path  of  human  progress.  Radicalism 
is  a  rare  and  generous  fruit,  which  it  takes  generations 
to  grow  in  any  thing  like  perfection. 

Sir  Wilfrid's  grandfather — jovial  old  Mr.  Wybergh 
—  was  the  counterpart  of  his  grandson  in  wit  and  in 
politics,  except  that  he  required  the  aid  of  something 
stronger  than  either  tea  or  cold  water  in  order  to  keep 
in  good  form.  An  obituary  notice  of  him,  not  long 
since  unearthed  by  Mr.  George  Augustus  Sala,  credits 
him  with  an  "  uninterrupted  gaiete  decoeur,  which  not 
even  pain  or  sickness  had  power  to  subdue."  When 
Lord  Brougham  made  his  historic  descent  on  Cumber- 
land in  the  Liberal  interest,  the  old  gentleman  was  one 
of  his  most  active  supporters,  and  much  harm  did  he 
do  to  the  Tories  by  the  inimitable  raiUery  with  which 
he  assailed  them.  On  one  occasion,  observing  that  the 
Conservative  side  of  the  hustings  was  crowded  with 
clergjTnen,  he  stretched  out  his  hand  towards  them,  and 
prefaced  a  spirited  onslaught  with  the  text,  "  The  Lord 


SIR   WILFRID   LAWSON.  67 

gave  the  word,  and  great  was  the  company  of  the 
preachers." 

He  was  not  a  Lawson  at  all,  but  the  representa- 
tive of  an  old  Yorkshire  fanuly  who  had  become 
connected  with  the  county  of  Cumberland  through 
marriage  with  Miss  Hartley,  whose  sister  was  the 
wife  of  the  then  owner  of  Bray  ton.  Old  Wilfrid 
Lawson,  having  no  descendants,  left  his  estates  and 
name  to  his  godson  and  nephew  by  affinity,  —  the  father 
of  the  present  baronet.  He  —  the  late  Sir  Wilfrid  — 
man'ied  a  Miss  Graham  of  Netherby,  the  sister  of  Sir 
James  Graham,  the  well-known  Minister  of  state,  who 
was  consequently  the  member  for  Carlisle's  uncle.  Sir 
Wilfrid,  senior,  was  a  stanch  Liberal,  who  did  not 
peiTnit  family  connections  to  hamper  him  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  public  duties.  When  Sir  James  Graham 
vacillated  in  his  allegiance  to  Liberalism,  his  brother-in- 
law,  who  was  universally  esteemed  for  his  many  virtues, 
set  an  example  to  the  constituency  of  fidelity  to  princi- 
ple by  being  among  the  first  to  record  his  vote  against 
him.  The  poll  was  then  open  and  of  two  days'  dura- 
tion, and  the  consequence  was  that  the  Minister  lost 
his  seat.  On  repentance  only  was  he  permitted  to  re- 
sume it. 

The  witty  champion  of  the  Permissive  Bill  was  bom 
in  the  year  1829  at  Brayton  Hall,  Aspatria,  Cumber- 
land. He  succeeded  to  the  family  estates  and  the 
baronetcy  —  which  has  existed,  with  a  break,  for  about 
two  centuries  —  on  the  death  of  his  father  in  1867. 
His  education  was,  for  a  youth  of  his  social  status,  of 
a  very  limited  kind.  He  was  never  either  at  a  public 
school  or  at  college  ;  and,  if  you  ask  him  what  instruc- 
tion he  received,  he  replies,  with  evident  satisfaction, 


68  EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN   PARLIAMENT. 

that  he  never  had  any.  His  father  was  a  very  "  Low  " 
or  Evangelical  Churchman,  —  a  teetotaler,  too,  for  many 
years, — who  di'eaded  the  contaminating  influences  of 
university  life  on  his  boys  more  than  he  coveted  for 
them  academic  distinctions.  What  happened,  accord- 
ingly, I  cannot  better  describe  than  in  the  words  of  Sir 
Wilfrid's  brother  William,  the  author  of  "Ten  Years 
of  Gentleman  Farming,"  a  singularly  candid  and  inter- 
esting book.  "I  had  the  advantage,"  he  says,  "of 
being  the  son  of  parents  who  were  more  anxious  that 
their  childi-en  should  be  happy  and  good  than  that  they 
should  be  learned  or  great.  My  father  had  my  educa- 
tion conducted  —  in  a  religious  manner — at  home, 
where  I  acquired  a  little  Latin  and  Greek,  and  a  few 
other  things ;  and  where,  as  is  the  case  with  many 
other  youths,  any  thing  in  the  shape  of  lessons  was  not 
attractive  to  me,  and  1  learned  as  little  as  possible.  I 
had,  before  I  was  eighteen,  travelled  several  times  on 
the  continent  of  Europe,  and  had  visited  Egypt  and 
Palestine  ;  but  circumstances  never  brought  me  in  con- 
tact with  rich  or  great  people,  and  I  had  not  much  of 
what  is  called  '  knowledge  of  the  world ; '  nor,  as  I 
alwaj's  had  the  prospect  of  enough  wealth  to  enable  me 
to  live  without  working,  did  I  form  what  are  called 
'  business  habits,'  Trained  as  a  shooter  of  animals,  a 
hunter  of  Cumberland  beasts  with  hounds,  and  a  trapper 
of  vermin,  I  found  myself  in  the  spring  of  1861,  in  my 
twentj^-fifth  year,  without  an  occupation,  without  many 
acquaintances,  — except  among  the  poor,  whom  I  had 
not  learned  to  despise  because  they  spoke  bad  grammar, 
and  took  their  coats  off  to  work,  —  and  without  the 
reputation  of  having  been  successful  in  any  undertaking 
except  that  of  the  mastership  and  huntsmanship  of  my 
brother's  foxhounds." 


SIK   WILFRID   LAWSON.  69 

As  a  consequence  of  this  sort  of  training,  Sir  Wilfrid 
Lawson  is  almost  entirely  devoid  of  personal  ambition. 
Goodness,  not  greatness,  is  the  object  at  which  he  aims. 
He  is  rich ;  but  his  sympathies  with  the  poor  are  as 
fresh  and  keen  as  if  he  were  one  of  them.  He  has 
not  been  deluded  bj^  the  deceitfulness  of  riches,  nor  is 
'irank  "  to  him  other  than  the  poor  "  guinea  stamp  " 
in  comparison  with  the  pure  gold  of  genuine  manhood. 
I  know  no  one  in  an}"  station  of  life  who  seems  to  me 
to  realize  more  fully  that 

"  Kind  hearts  are  more  than  coronets, 
And  simple  faith  than  Norman  blood." 

For  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  he  has  been  a  total  abstainer, 
simply  from  a  sense  of  duty  towards  his  fellows,  and 
not  from  any  personal  or  physical  antipathy  to  stimu- 
lants. While  the  world  standeth,  he  will  do  nothing  to 
cause  his  brother  to  offend ;  nay,  more,  he  will  do  his 
utmost  to  remove  stumbling-blocks  from  his  brother's 
path.  In  so  acting,  he  may  be  right  or  he  may  be 
wrong ;  but  at  all  events  the  motive  is  eminently 
respectable. 

In  1859,  in  his  father's  lifetime,  he  entered  Parlia- 
ment as  member  for  Carlisle,  and  found  a  more  useful 
and  honorable  occupation  than  that  of  "  a  hunter  of 
Cumberland  beasts  with  hounds."  In  March,  1864, 
he  first  brought  in  a  bill,  since  known  as  the  Permissive 
Bill,  "  to  enable  owners  and  occupiers  of  property  in 
certain  districts  to  prevent  the  sale  of  intoxicating 
liquors  within  such  districts."  He  lost  his  seat  in  con- 
sequence, and  from  1865  to  1868  he  was  out  of  Parlia- 
ment. Then  the  tide  turned ;  and  the  cathedral  city 
revei-sed  its  verdict,  many  publicans  and  sinners  doubt- 
less repenting  them  of  the  evil  they  had  done. 


70  EMINENT   LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

Like  most  places  blessed  with  a  dean  and  chapter, 
the  Carlisle  electors  are  in  truth  any  thing  but  a  model 
constituency.  It  is  but  likely  that  an  obnoxious  ex- 
mayor  of  the  cit}'  petitioned  against  the  return  of  two 
municipal  councillors  on  the  ground  of  briber}-  and 
treating,  and  had  them  duly  unseated,  the  joke  of  the 
affah'  being  that  among  the  more  S3'stematic  treaters 
figured  some  of  the  most  active  members  of  Su-  Wil- 
frid's committee.  Altogether  the  trial  revealed  a  state 
of  social  habits  and  political  practices  so  reprehensible, 
that  one  can  onl}-  be  thankful  that  so  questionable  a 
constituenc}'  should  elect  to  be  represented  in  Parlia- 
ment by  so  unquestionable  a  member  as  Sir  Wilfrid 
Lawson.  It  is  one  of  the  advantages  of  virtue  that 
vice  is  always  compelled  to  pay  it  a  certain  unwilling 
homage. 

It  remains  to  speak  of  Sir  Wilfrid' s  legislative  career, 
and  of  certain  conceptions  of  the  common  weal  with 
which  his  name  has  become  indissolubl}-  associated  in 
the  public  mind.  Two  interests  of  transcendent  impor- 
tance—  one  social,  the  other  political  —  he  has  made 
peculiarh'  his  own;  viz.,  those  of  temperance  and 
peace.  He  is  the  sworn  foe  of  publicans  and  soldiers. 
He  regards  both  as  hostes  humani  generis,  whom  it  is 
the  duty  of  all  good  citizens  to  unite  to  extirpate.  In 
place  of  strong  di'ink  he  offers  us  cold  water,  and  in 
place  of  war  a  court  of  arbitration.  Was  there  ever 
such  a  visionary?  Why,  since  the  dawn  of  human  his- 
tory till  now,  these  are  the  twin  Molochs  to  which  count- 
less generations  have  sacrificed  their  first-bom.  Who 
are  we  that  we  should  depart  from  the  wisdom  of  our 
ancestors  ?  Did  not  the  Son  of  man  himself  come  eat- 
ing and  drinking?    Are  not  the  princes  and  poten- 


SIE  WILFRID   LAWSON.  71 

tatcs  of  the  earth  —  our  "sovereigns  and  statesmen" 
—  they  who  set  armies  in  motion?  And  do  not  all 
manner  of  priests,  whether  I^otestant  or  Romanist,  fer- 
vently thank  God  when  the  bloody  work  has  been 
effectually  accomplished  ?  David  going  out  with  sling 
and  stone  against  Goliath  of  Gath  did  not  requu-e  to 
possess  one-twentieth  part  of  the  sublime  faith  of  him 
who  undertakes  to  rout  a  combined  array  of  publicans 
and  Jingoes. 

A  wide  sui'vey  of  histor}^  seems  to  show  that  the 
essential  habits  of  individuals  and  of  nations  are  inerad- 
icable. The  asceticism  of  the  Commonwealth  was 
followed  by  the  unbridled  license  of  the  Restoration ; 
the  austere  virtues  of  the  Roman  Republic  by  the  un- 
limited vices  of  jthe  Empire.  Human  nature  is  so  im- 
perfect that  '  re  is  an  undoubted  danger  in  being 
"  righteous  overmuch."  What,  then,  is  the  true  motto 
of  the  temperance  reformer?  It  is  to  be  found  in  the 
words  of  Goethe,  "  Without  haste  and  without  rest." 
The  drinking  habits  of  the  people  must  be  eradicated 
gi'aduall}',  one  branch  of  the  upas  tree  being  lopped  off 
here,  and  another  there,  till  at  last  the  time  may  come 
when  it  will  be  safe  to  strike  at  the  trunk  itself. 

I  do  not  for  a  moment  mean  to  affirm  that  Sir  Wilfrid 
Lawson  is  so  ignorant  of  human  nature  as  to  be  likely 
to  dash  his  head  incontinently  against  it ;  but  he  has 
many  intemperate^  temperate  followers  who  habitually 
do  so,  to  the  great  detriment  of  the  cause  which  they 
and  all  well-intentioned  citizens  have  at  heai-t.  Enthu- 
siastic temperance  reformers  are  so  apt  to  underestimate 
the  warping  influence  of  social  customs  and  of  early 
acquired  habits,  even  on  the  healthiest  consciences.  I, 
for  example,  through  force  of  association,  am  not  an 


72  EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

abstainer,  though  I  often  feel  that  it  would  be  right  I 
should  be  so ;  yet  I  am  Pharisee  enough  to  thank 
Heaven  as  often  as  opportunity  offers,  that  1  am  not 
like  that  inhuman  ' '  hunter  of  Cumberland  beasts  with 
hounds,"  Sir  Wilfrid  Lawson,  Bart.,  the  apostle  of 
temperance,  whose  devotion  to  the  public  weal  and 
domestic  purity  of  life  I  so  greatly  admire.  I  would 
rather  get  hopelessly  drunk  every  day  in  the  week  than 
even  for  once 

"  Blend  my  pleasure  or  ray  pride 
With  sorrow  of  the  meanest  thing  that  lives." 

Howbeit,  had  I  been  born  a  fox-hunting  squire  like  the 
baronet  of  Bray  ton,  there  are  ten  chances  to  one  that  I 
should  have  been  as  arrant  a  Nimrod  as  he.  "  That 
monster  custom,  which  all  sense  doth  eat  of  habit's 
devil,"  is  too  much  for  us  all,  if  not  in  one  particular, 
then  in  another. 

Like  all  friends  of  temperance  who  aim  at  possible 
reforms,  I  rejoice  that  8ir  Wilfrid,  during  the  session 
of  1879,  saw  fit  to  substitute  "'Local  Option"  for  the 
Permissive  Bill.  The  latter  had  a  detestable  plebisci- 
tary flavor  about  it  which  made  it  stink  in  the  nostrils 
of  every  man  who  believes  that  representative  institu- 
tions afford  the  safest  guaranties  at  once  for  liberty  of 
the  citizen  and  efficiency  of  administration.  From  this 
objection  Local  Option  is  free,  and  a  flag  is  now  un- 
furled around  which  may  rally  every  one  who  is  not  the 
blind  partisan  of  a  "trade"  which  openly  boasts  of 
preferring  its  own  small  and  not  over-creditable  "in- 
terest" to  every  consideration  of  national  welfare. 
For  years  the  publicans  have  openly  identified  them- 
selves with  every  re-actionary  "  cry,"  and  they  will 


SIR  WILFRID   LAWSON.  73 

have  themselves  to  blame  if  at  last  they  find  themselves 
at  deadly  feud  with  the  whole  Liberal  party.  It  is  per- 
fectl}'  intolerable  that  such  a  body  of  licensed  monopo- 
lists should  be  permitted  longer  to  make  and  unmake 
governments.  To  this  conclusion  has  Sir  Wilfrid 
Lawson'  s  persistent  efforts  brought  us ;  and  who  shall 
say  it  is  not  a  long  way  ? 

With  regard  to  Sir  Wilfrid's  enlightened  advocacy 
of  peace  principles,  no  exception  whatever  need  be 
taken.  He  is  not,  so  far  as  I  know,  a  "  peace-at-any- 
price  man ; ' '  but  he  is  the  very  incarnation  of  the 
righteous  spirit  of  anti-Jingoism.  Historically^  Jingo- 
ism is  a  ghastly  recrudescence  of  all  the  brutal,  blood- 
thirsty passions  of  bj'gone  generations.  Sir  Wilfrid 
was  one  of  the  few  members  of  the  House,  who,  at  the 
moment  that  we  seemed  on  the  very  brink  of  commit- 
ting the  incalculable  folly  and  unforgivable  crime  of 
rushing  into  a  second  Crimean  war,  most  clearly  appre- 
hended the  true  character  of  the  impending  calamity, 
and  courageousl}^  pointed  it  out  to  Parliament  and  the 
countr}'.  It  is  in  such  crises  that  true  Radicals,  genu- 
ine patriots,  come  to  the  surface.  It  is  not  ever}''  man 
who,  when  such  tried  friends  of  freedom  and  national 
rectitude  as  Mr.  Joseph  Cowen  are  found  fervently 
preaching  the  immoral  and  parochial  doctrine  of  "  my 
countr}^  right,  or  my  country  wrong,"  has  the  fidelitj' 
to  affirm,  "  I  have  a  mightier  country  than  you,  and  a 
larger  interest  to  protect.  The  globe  is  my  countr}'-, 
and  its  entire  inhabitants  are  my  countrj-men.  Eternal 
justice  is  the  interest  which  I  desire  to  see  conserved." 
This  was  the  spirit  in  which  Sir  Wilfrid  spoke  when 
nearl}^  ever}^  one  else  feared  to  utter  words  of  truth  and 
soberness  ;  and  his  constancj'  ought  not  to  be  forgotten. 


74  EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN   PARLIAMENT. 

His  cause,  the  cause  of  international  arbitration,  is  a 
growing  one.  In  spite  of  appearances,  the  day-dream 
of  Mazzini  will  yet  be  realized.  There  will  be  a  United 
States  of  Europe,  as  of  America,  and  the  sad  Italian  — 

"  Who,  rowing  hard  against  the  stream, 
Saw  distant  gates  of  Eden  gleam, 
And  did  not  dream  it  was  a  dream  "  — 

will  be  numbered  among  the  world' s  greatest  seers. 

Sir  Wilfrid  has  likewise,  in  the  matter  of  the  royal 
grants,  along  with  Sir  Charles  DUke  and  Mr.  P.  A. 
Taj'lor,  done  all  that  one  faithful  representative  could 
to  rescue  the  people' s  hardly  earned  money  from  the 
devouring  maw  of  useless  princes  and  princesses. 

For  the  rest,  the  member  from  Carlisle,  on  subjects 
with  which  he  is  less  familiar,  alwa3's  follows  the  best 
lead  ;  and  his  vote  will  never  be  found  recorded  among 
the  ayes  when  it  should  be  among  the  noes. 

He  is  not  what  can  be  called  an  orator ;  but  his  stj'le 
of  speaking  is  admirabl}'  adapted  to  the  matter,  which 
is  no  less  closely  reasoned  than  wittily  conceived.  He 
is  the  readiest  and  perhaps  the  most  pungent  writer 
of  satirical  verses  I  ever  met.  If  he  were  setting  him- 
self to  it,  he  could  fill  columns  of  "Punch"  every 
week,  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  proprietors.  I 
subjoin  a  very  recent  specimen,  consisting  of  a  para- 
phrase of  the  ministerial  reply  to  Mr.  Samuclson's 
question  regarding  the  language  officially  used  in 
Cyprus :  — 

"About  Cyprus  we  scarce  know  what  language  to  speak, 
Wliether  English,  or  Turkish,  or  Russian,  or  Greek; 
There's  only  one  language  we  can't  speak,  forsooth, — 
WTien  Cyprus  is  mentioned  we  never  speak  truth." 


vn. 

HENRY  FAWCETT. 

"  This  is  he  who,  felled  by  foes, 
Sprang  harmless  up,  refreshed  by  blows." 

FOR  twenty-one  years  the  brightness  of  noonday 
has  been  to  Henry  Faweett,  "  member  for  Hack- 
ney and  Hindostan,"  as  the  blackness  of  midnight. 
As  is  well  known,  he  has  been  stone  blind  during  the 
whole  period  of  his  public  life.  The  fact  is  a  most 
painful  one,  which  I  allude  to  thus  early,  not  for  the 
pui-pose  of  exciting  sympathy,  but  because  it  is  impos- 
sible to  estimate  aright  the  magnitude  of  Mr.  Faweett' s 
achievements  if  the  heaviness  of  the  odds  against 
which  he  has  had  to  contend  is  not  duly  taken  into 
account.  There  are  always  clever  people  ready  to 
demonstrate  that  untoward  calamities,  which  do  not 
happen  to  themselves,  are  somehow  blessings  in  dis- 
guise. Are  3^ou  lamed  for  life?  So  much  the  better 
for  you.  Is  there  not  thus  effected  an  immense  saving 
of  shoe-leather?  For  the  futm-e  -you  are  independent 
of  shoemakers.  Are  you  deprived  of  sight?  Good  for 
you  again ;  for  is  it  not  a  fact  that  the  blind  have  a 
marvellous  gift  of  groping  their  way  in  the  dark  ?  Do 
not,  for  example,  the  excavations  of  Herculaneum  and 
Pompeii  testify  that  in  their  last  agony  the  doomed 
inhabitants  sought  the  aid  of  sightless  guides  to  direct 

75 


76  EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

their  flight?  Most  trae,  there  is  generally  some  com- 
pensation for  the  heaviest  misfortune  ;  but,  it  is,  alas  ! 
as  a  rule,  far  too  small  for  the  loss  sustained.  And 
such,  no  doubt,  has  been  the  experience  of  the  eminent 
politician  and  economist,  Henry  Fawcett. 

Bereft  of  sight,  he  hUs  achieved  much ;  with  sight, 
he  would  beyond  question  have  achieved  still  more. 
For  his  is  an  exceedingly  strong  and  healthy  nature,  as 
little  prone  to  succumb  to  the  enervating  influences  of 
prosperity  as  to  the  prostrating  blows  of  adversity,  —  a 
true  Samson  Agonistes,  whose  locks,  however  closely 
shorn  by  unlucky  chance,  were  bound  to  grow  some 
day  and  somehow.  His  intellect  is  characterized  by  a 
vigor  that  is  almost  redundant,  a  tenacity  of  purpose 
that  turns  not  back,  and  a  personal  courage  curiously 
combined  with  caution,  which  it  would  be  exceedingly 
difficult  to  match  inside  or  outside  of  Parliament. 
Physically  he  is  a  picture  of  health  and  strength,  one 
of  the  tallest  men  in  the  House,  with  long  sinewy  limbs 
and  that  peculiai*  poise  about  the  shoulders  suggestive 
of  a  leonine  bound,  which  is  generally  observable  in 
persons  of  extraoMinary  intrepidity  of  character.  As 
might  be  expected  of  one  in  such  fine  animal  condition, 
Mr.  Fawcett' s  habitual  mood  is  cheerful,  even  to  mirth- 
fulness.  He  has  escaped  being  a  mere  athlete  by 
becoming  a  scholar ;  and  it  is  pretty  certain,  that,  if  he 
had  not  been  a  philosopher,  he  would  have  been  a  dem- 
agogue. He  has  strong  natural  aflinities  for  the  "  un- 
washed" multitude.  "March  without  the  people," 
he  would  say  with  Ledru  RoUin,  "and  30U  march  into 
night :  their  instincts  are  a  finger-pointing  of  I*rovi- 
dence,  always  turned  towaids  real  benefit." 

Men  cast  in  such  a  big  mould  as  Mr.  Fawcett  are 


HENEY  FAWCETT.  77 

almost  inevitably  democrats.  The  mere  gaudium  cer- 
taminis  of  politics  is  life  for  them.  With  culture  and 
honesty  of  purpose  such  as  the  Cambridge  professor 
possesses,  robust,  hearty  natures  of  this  stamp  make 
the  most  trustworthy  Radical  politicians.  They  have 
what  is  so  necessary  for  political  life,  "staying  power." 
They  do  not  despair  of  progress  because  for  a  time 
there  is  an  ebb  in  the  popular  tide.  They  know  that 
high-water  mark  will  again  be  reached  before  long ; 
and,  if  they  cannot  do  better,  they  are  content  to  wait 
the  event. 

Henry  Fawcett,  M.P.,  was  bom  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Salisbury  in  the  year  1833.  His  father,  Alderman 
Fawcett  of  Salisbmy,  was  born  at  Kirby  Lonsdale  in 
1793,  and  is  now  consequently  in  his  eighty-sixth 
year ;  and  a  haler  old  gentleman  or  more  resolute  Radi- 
cal it  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  all  P]ngland.  He 
came  to  Wiltshire  from  Westmoreland  in  his  youth, 
and,  after  engaging  for  some  time  in  trade,  betook  him- 
self to  the  more  congenial  occupation  of  a  gentleman 
farmer.  His  energy  and  intelligence  as  an  agriculturist 
were  conspicuous ;  and,  when  the  anti-corn  law  agita- 
tation  was  initiated,  both  were  heartily  enlisted  on 
behalf  of  the  league.  Even  yet  he  is  an  effective 
public  speaker,  and  is  a  personal  friend  and  warm 
admirer  of  Mr.  Bright.  Mr.  Fawcett' s  mother  is  no 
less  remarkable.  Like  her  husband,  the  alderman,  she 
is  a  sort  of  semper  eadem  no  less  in  mind  than  in  body. 
She  is  a  keen  politician,  —  on  the  right  side,  of  course  ; 
and  to  her  does  Mr.  Fawcett  attribute,  in  no  small 
measure,  the  strength  of  his  own  Radical  convictions. 

Thus  happy  in  his  parentage,  the  member  for  Hack- 
ne}^  was  no  less  so  in  other  essential  particulars  aifect- 


78  EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN   PARLIAMENT. 

ing  his  childhood  and  youth.  He  was  country  bred,  — 
and  such  a  country',  too,  — imbibing  no  taste  that  was 
not  equally  good  for  head,  heart,  and  bod}'.  Health, 
the  essential  condition  of  all  great  achievements,  he 
stored  up  abundantlj- ,  while  at  the  same  time  the  dis- 
cipline of  his  mind  was  by  no  means  neglected.  His 
family  were  neither  rich  nor  poor,  but  in  that  "just 
middle  "  state  which  neither  suggests  to  the  youth  that 
exertion  is  superfluous,  nor  inflicts  on  him  the  labor  of 
acquirement  as  an  unavoidable  drudgery.  Till  his 
fourteenth  year  he  attended  a  local  school  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  Salisbury,  whence  he  was  removed  to  Queenwood 
College,  Hants,  where  he  remained  for  two  years.  There 
he  had  the  good  luck  to  benefit  by  the  teaching  of  Pro- 
fessors Tyndall  and  Frankland.  He  next  attended 
King's  College,  London;  and  in  1852  he  was  duly 
entered  as  a  student  of  Trinity  Hall,  Cambridge.  To 
Cambridge  young  Fawcett  brought  with  him  an  un- 
quenchable love  of  all  manner  of  rural  pursuits,  the 
frame  of  an  athlete,  the  ringing  voice  of  a  hunts- 
man, and  a  tolerable  store  of  learning.  He  did  not 
neglect  his  opportunities  at  the  university.  He  was 
an  adept  at  boating,  skating,  riding,  angling,  walking, 
rackets,  cricketing,  and  prize-taking.  In  1856  he 
graduated  seventh  wrangler,  and  was  subsequently 
elected  a  fellow  of  his  college. 

From  a  very  early  age  he  had  displayed  premonitory 
symptoms  of  a  more  than  ordinary  devotion  to  politics. 
While  still  an  undergraduate,  the  writings  of  the  late 
John  Stuart  Mill  made  a  deep  impression  on  his  mind, 
and  partly  determined  him  to  seek  an  entrance  into 
Parliament  bj"  the  time-honored  avenue  of  the  bar. 
He  accordingly  commenced  to  "keep  tenns"  at  Lin- 


HENRY  FAWCETT.  79 

coin's  Inn,  where  he  would  have  been  duly  "  called" 
had  not  the  terrible  calamity  to  which  I  have  already 
alluded  intervened. 

In  the  autumn  of  1858  he  was  one  day  out  with  a 
small  party  engaged  in  partridge-shooting.  A  covey 
rose,  and  flew  over  a  slight  elevation,  on  the  remote 
side  of  which  Mr.  Fawcett  had  momentarily  disap- 
peared. A  companion  unfortunately  fired  at  the 
instant  his  head  topped  the  rising  ground ;  and  two 
pellets,  with  something  like  diabolic  precision,  neatly 
perforating  the  spectacles  he  was  wearing,  lodged  them- 
selves in  the  retinae  of  the  eyes,  and  "  at  one  stride 
came  the  dark."     From  that  day  to  this, 

*'  Those  eyes,  though  clear, 
To  outward  view,  of  blemish  or  of  spot, 
Bereft  of  light,  their  seeing  have  forgot; 
I  Nor  to  their  idle  orbs  doth  sight  appear 
Of  sun,  or  moon,  or  star  throughout  the  year, 
Or  man  or  woman." 

The  pain  of  the  accident  was  soon  over,  and  it  remained 
for  Mr.  Fawcett  to  consider  how  far  so  irreparable  a 
mischance  had  necessarily  affected  his  habits  of  life 
and  future  prospects.  His  invincible  pluck  did  not 
desert  him  for  a  moment.  Luckily  his  academic  train- 
ing was  completed  ;  and  the  benchers  of  Lincoln's  Inn, 
on  hearing  the  sad  facts  of  the  case,  considerately 
offered  to  ' '  call ' '  him  to  the  bar  without  further  to- 
do.  He  might  succeed  as  a  counsel  in  spite  of  his 
blindness.  Armed  with  logic,  imperturbability,  and 
physical  endurance  such  as  his,  one  might  undoubtedly 
accomplish  much.  Still,  the  drawbacks  to  a  successful 
professional  career  were  undeniable  ;  and  Mr.  Fawcett, 
wisely  it  seems  to  me,  resolved  not  to  encounter  them, 
but  to  take  a  straiffhter  cut  to  Parliament. 


80  EillNENT   LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

Except  in  this  particular,  however,  he  determined 
that  his  blindness  should  make  "no  difference;"  and 
it  is  wonderful  how  little  it  has  actuallj"  affected  his 
habits  and  intentions.  In  the  very  heart  of  London  he 
has  contrived  to  secure  a  modest  house  with  a  garden 
one-tenth  of  a  mile  long,  where  he  can  promenade  all 
alone  to  his  heart's  content.  He  is  never  so  happy  as 
in  the  open  air,  and  in  his  native  Wiltshire  his  pedes- 
trian feats  have  become  almost  proverbial.  His  topo- 
graphical knowledge  is  so  minute,  that  when  his  guides 
arc  at  fault  he  not  unfrequently  directs  them,  —  from 
earl3'  recollections  of  natural  objects  of  course.  He 
religiously  frequents  the  university  boat-race  on  the 
Thames,  and  is  as  heartily  interested  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  day  as  the  keenest-eyed  observer.  At 
Cambridge  he  is  stroke-oar  of  the  "Ancient  Mariners'  " 
boat;  and  a  better  stroke  no  crew  of  "mariners," 
ancient  or  modern,  need  desire.  He  is  a  good  swim- 
mer. When  the  fens  are  frozen,  he  takes  to  his  skates 
as  naturally  as  a  duck  in  the  water  takes  to  her  webs. 
On  such  occasions  his  daughter,  a  graceful  maiden  of 
eleven  winters,  precedes  her  father,  whistling  plaj'fully. 
He  is  likewise  an  ardent  equestrian  ;  and,  when  iu  resi- 
dence at  the  university,  seldom  a  day  elapses  that  the 
professor  of  political  economy  may  not  be  seen, 
accompanied  by  some  one  of  his  numerous  friends, 
cantering  fearlessly  on  Newmarket  Heath  or  Across 
Hat.  He  occasional!}'  even  follows  the  hounds  on  a 
well-trained  steed  ;  and  so  hard  a  rider  is  he  said  to  be, 
that  the  livery-stable  keepers  have  two  tai-iffs, — one 
ordinar}"  for  those  who  have  not  been  seen  in  the  society 
of  Professor  Fawcett,  and  one  extraordinary  for  those 
who  have.     Add  to  this  that  Mr.  Fawcett  is  one  of  the 


HENRY  FAWCETT.  81 

best  and  most  indefatigable  amateur  sahnon  and  trout 
fisliers  that  can  well  be  imagined,  and  it  will  readily  be 
admitted  that  no  great  ' '  difference ' '  has  overtaken 
him  with  regard  to  outdoor  recreations. 

But,  if  this  is  the  case  with  respect  to  his  personal 
habits,  it  is  none  the  less  true  of  his  political  inten- 
tions. He  had  hoped  to  enter  the  House  as  a  success- 
ful counsel.  As  it  was,  he  had  to  seek  admission  with- 
out the  aid  of  that  quasi-passport,  without  fame,  and 
without  what  is  even  stUl  more  indispensable  to  a  par- 
liamentary candidate,  money,  —  not  that  he  was  by  any 
means  a  poor  man  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word.  He 
has  alwa3's  been  in  comfortable  cu'cumstances,  thanks 
to  a  provident  father  and  his  own  exertions  ;  but  rather 
in  the  sense  that  his  wants  have  been  few  and  legiti- 
mate, rather  than  that  his  income  has  been  large.  But 
he  has  had  no  superfluous  thousands  with  which  to  oil 
the  electoral  wheels  of  any  constituency.  He  has, 
however,  invariably  got  over  this  difficulty  with  charac- 
teristic boldness  and  commendable  candor. 

His  first  venture  was  with  the  electors  of  Southwark, 
in  1861,  on  the  death  of  Sir  Charles  Napier,  "Black 
Charlie."  He  did  not  know  a  soul  in  the  borough, 
which  he  invaded  with  his  secretary'  in  a  cab.  Thej' 
went  straight  to  a  printer's,  and  ordered  a  number  of 
bills  to  be  issued  announcing  the  candidature  of  Henry 
Fawcett  in  the  Eadical  interest.  He  had  previously 
spoken  in  public,  —  once  in  Exeter  Ilall  on  trades-union- 
ism, and  once  at  Glasgow,  at  the  Social  Science  Con- 
gress, with  considerable  acceptance  ;  but  to  all,  except 
the  merest  fraction  of  the  electors,  his  ver}'  name  was 
unknown.  And,  worse  and  worse,  when  they  came  to 
meet  him,  he  was  blind ;  and  they  soon  had  it  from  his 


82  EinXENT  LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

own  lips  that  he  was  not  rich,  and  would  employ  neither 
paid  agent  nor  canvasser.  Was  there  ever  such  a  mad- 
man ?  Ilowbeit,  the  great  ability  and  strUcing  gallantry 
of  the  blind  candidate  soon  began  to  tell  with  the  con- 
stituency ;  and  there  is  no  sa}  ing  what  might  have  hap- 
pened if  Mr.  Fawcett  had  not  been  over-persuaded  to 
retire  before  the  poll  to  avoid  the  charge  of  creating  a 
division  in  the  Liberal  ranks.  The  experience  he  had 
gained,  however,  was  of  the  most  valuable  kind.  It 
went  to  prove,  incredible  as  it  may  appear,  that  the 
portals  of  the  "  rich  man's  club "  at  Westminster  may 
be  successfully  forced  at  the  cost  of  a  few  hundreds  b}'' 
candidates  at  once  poor  and  honest,  if  onl}'  they  have 
the  requisite  faith  and  ability  to  make  the  venture.  In 
1863  Mr.  Fawcett  contested  the  borough  of  Cambridge 
on  the  same  principles  that  he  had  found  to  answer  so 
unexpectedly-  well  in  Southwark.  He  was  defeated, 
but  by  an  insignificant  majority.  He  next  contested 
Brighton  in  1864,  warmly  espousing  the  cause  of  the 
North  in  its  struggle  with  the  slaveholding  States  of 
the  American  Union.  Again  he  was  unsuccessful ;  but 
the  following  year,  nothing  daunted,  he  returned  to  the 
charge,  and  was  elected  by  a  large  majority.  In  1868 
he  was  once  more  victorious  ;  but  at  the  general  election 
of  1874  —  the  annus  mirdbilis  of  Torj'  re-action  —  both 
he  and  his  Liberal  colleagues  in  the  representation  were 
thrown  out,  and  replaced  by  Conservative  nobodies. 

It  was  impossible,  however,  that  such  a  man  should 
long  be  excluded  from  the  legislature.  In  two  months' 
time  a  vacancy  occurred  in  the  representation  of  tlie 
vast  metropolitan  constituency  of  Hackney,  and  the 
eyes  of  the  Liberal  electors  were  at  once  turned  with 
one  accord  towards  Mr.   Fawcett.     He  was  elected 


HENRY  FAWCETT.  83 

without  difficulty ;  his  great  services  to  India,  and  his 
persistent  opposition  to  all  encroachments  on  Epping 
Forest  and  the  New  Forest,  weighing  heavily  in  his 
favor  in  the  electoral  balance. 

In  Parliament  Mr.  Fawcett's  career  has  been  one  of 
no  ordinary  success.  The  blind  Postmaster-General  is 
recognized  by  all  parties  in  the  House  as  a  speaker  of 
decided  mark,  and  his  vote  is  always  to  be  weighed  as 
well  as  counted.  He  entered  the  legislature  with  a 
bodjr  of  well-defined  principles,  and  he  has  stuck  to 
them  manfully  through  evil  and  through  good  report. 
His  political  conceptions  are,  in  a  great  measure,  those 
of  his  friend,  the  late  Mr.  John  Stuart  Mill.  Unlike 
Goethe,  for  example,  it  was  the  special  function  of  that 
great  and  generous  thinker  to  fertilize,  not  sterilize,  the 
minds  of  other  men. 

"  And  methiuks  the  work  is  nobler, 
And  a  mark  of  greater  might ; 
Better  far  to  make  a  thinker 
Than  to  make  a  proselyte,  — 
Nobler,  for  the  sake  of  manhood, 
Better,  for  tlie  cause  of  truth, 
Though  your  thinker  be  but  rugged, 
And  your  proselyte  is  smooth." 

Mr.  Fawcett's  ideas  maj^  be  described  as  ultra-indi- 
vidualist in  their  tendency.  He  is  an  "  administrative- 
Nihilist,"  who  believes  that  government  is  at  best  a 
necessary  evil,  and  that  the  less  the  people  have  of  it, 
and  the  more  they  are  left  to  seek  their  own  happiness 
in  their  own  way,  the  better  for  them.  In  a  country 
like  Germany,  with  its  autocracy  on  the  one  hand  and 
its  socialism  on  the  other,  he  would  be  between  the 
upper  and  the  nether  millstone,  and  would  assuredly, 


84         EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

politically  speaking,  be  speedily  pounded  to  atoms. 
Here  and  in  the  United  States  the  tendenc}'  is  decid- 
edly towards  a  more  and  more  comprehensive  individu- 
alism ;  but  it  is  very  doubtful  whether,  in  several  in- 
stances, Mr.  Fawcett  has  not  given  us  somewhat  "  too 
much  of  a  good  thing."  His  opposition,  for  example,  to 
Mr.  Mundella'  s  Factory  Acts  Amendment  Bill,  limiting 
the  labor  of  women  in  factories  to  nine  houi-s,  was,  to 
say  the  least,  an  attitude  of  doubtful  wisdom.  If 
women  could  protect  themselves  from  oppressive  toil, 
then,  of  course,  Mr.  Fawcett  was  right ;  if  the  evidence 
was  the  other  way,  then  he  was  wrong.  The  question 
is  one  of  evidence  solely  ;  and  I  for  one  am  of  opinion 
that  Mr.  Fawcett' s  judgment  was  -not  in  accordance 
with  the  evidence.  He  was  willing  —  nay,  has  exerted 
himself  manfully  —  to  extend  the  benefits  of  factory 
legislation  to  the  children  of  agiicultural  laborers,  on 
the  ground  that  they  could  not  help  themselves.  How 
much  better  off  were  the  majority  of  those  for  whose 
benefit  the  Nine  Hours  Bill  was  introduced  ?  In  reality 
hardly  any. 

Again :  with  respect  to  the  licensing  question,  Mr. 
Fawcett' s  position  has  somewhat  too  much  of  the  non 
possumus  about  it.  The  problem  is  one,  doubtless,  of 
very  great  diflBculty  ;  and  certainly  the  Permissive  Bill 
was  a  crude  attempt  to  deal  with  it.  But  to  tell  us 
that  local  option  is  as  objectionable  as  the  Permissive 
Bill,  or  even  more  so,  is  to  affirm  one  of  two  things,  — 
either  that  the  present  licensing  sj'stem  is  perfect  and 
inviolable,  or  that  free  trade  in  liquor  is  the  true 
remedy  for  the  monstrous  evils  of  intemperance  to 
which  society  is  on  all  hands  admitted  to  be  a  prej'. 
If  no  remedy  is  the  true  remedy,  then  we  ought  to 
know  it. 


HENRY  FAWCETT.  85 

These  positions,  however,  which  the  member  for 
Hackney  defends  with  so  much  gallantry  and  so  little 
regard  for  his  own  popularity,  are,  generally  speaking, 
virtues  in  excess,  and  cannot  for  a  moment  be  permit- 
ted to  weigh  with  any  rational  mind  in  judging  of  his 
career  as  a  legislator. 

Who  can  ever  forget  the  evening  when  the  blind 
member  was  the  onlj-  representative  of  the  people  who 
saw  his  way  into  the  lobby  where  Sir  Charles  Dilke  and 
Mr.  P.  A.  Taylor  were  tellers  against  the  dowry  to 
the  Princess  Louise  ?  What  Londoner  can  ever  be  too 
grateful  to  him  for  preserving  from  imminent  alienation 
the  ancient  rights  of  the  people  in  Epping  Forest  ?  If 
he  had  been  member  for  Hackney  at  the  time  he  was 
fighting  so  doggedly  against  the  threatened  enclosures, 
there  might  have  been  some  suspicion  that  it  was  done 
merely  to  gratify  his  constituents.  As  it  was,  not  even 
that  pardonable  kind  of  self-interest  can  be  laid  to  his 
charge.  It  will  likewise  be  long  remembered  by  the 
skilled  artisans  of  London  with  what  courage  and  de- 
votion he  acted  as  chairman  of  the  late  Mr.  George 
Odger's  committee  in  Southwark,  when  that  republican 
artisan  statesman  was  so  near  obtaining  a  well-merited 
seat  in  the  legislature  of  his  country. 

In  theory  Mr.  Fawcett  is  himself  a  republican  ;  but  his 
practice,  alas  !  has  not  always  squared  with  his  principle. 
But  it  is  as  the  "  member  for  India"  that  Mr.  Fawcett' s 
name  wUl  be  handed  down  to  posterity.  He  has  the 
largest  constituency  of  any  man  in  the  world ;  and  his 
responsibilities  have  become  as  real  as  if  they  were  im- 
posed by  law.  He  is  the  true  Minister  for  India,  who- 
ever may  fill  the  office.  It  is  not  to  Lord  Hartington, 
but  to  Hemy  Fawcett,  that  millions  of  Indians  look  for 


86  EMINENT   LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

redress  of  grievances,  for  words  of  sjTiipathy  and  com- 
fort. The  unique  position  which  the  member  for  Hack- 
ney holds  in  the  hearts  of  the  Indian  people  of  itself 
makes  Mr.  Fawcett  a  power  in  the  state.  His  presence 
at  the  India  office  would  do  more  to  secure  India  than 
twenty  Afghan  expeditions.  This  being  so,  the  minis- 
terial wisdom  of  his  appointment  as  Postmaster-General 
is  by  no  means  obvious.  Mr.  Fawcett  has  been  at 
enormous  pains  to  acquaint  himself  with  the  actual 
state  of  India ;  and  yet  his  first  application  to  the 
subject  was  more  like  an  accident  than  any  thing  else. 
He  happened  to  oppose,  as  a  gross  and  shameful  injus- 
tice, the  proposal  of  the  Government  of  the  day  to 
saddle  the  Indian  exchequer  with  the  cost  of  a  par- 
ticular entertainment  given  to  the  Sultan  of  Turkey. 
Bit  by  bit  his  knowledge  of  the  systematic  manner  in 
which  India  is  ' '  exploited ' '  by  England  grew  ;  and  he 
at  last  resolved  to  subject  the  whole  question  of  Indian 
finance  and  Indian  administration  to  a  patient  and 
searching  analysis.  For  j'ears  he  worked  four  hours 
every  day  at  the  tangled  skein  as  one  would  for  an  ex- 
amination ;  and,  when  data  failed  him,  he  had  influence 
enough  to  secure  the  appointment  of  a  parliamentar}- 
committee  on  Indian  finance,  which  sat  for  three  whole 
sessions.  At  the  end  of  the  investigation  he  had  as 
fully  mastered  the  subject  as  it  was  possible  to  do. 
He  has  all  the  more  important  figures  by  heart,  and 
can  hurl  them  with  crushing  effect  at  the  head  of  who- 
ever takes  it  upon  him  to  unfold  the  Indian  budget. 
It  is  one  of  the  beneficial  effects,  if  I  may  so  speak,  of 
Mr.  Fawcett' s  blindness,  that  he  speaks,  and  does  not 
read,  his  figures  to  the  House.  These,  through  his 
youthful  but  smart  secretary,  he  selects  so  appropri- 


HENRY  FAWCETT.  87 

ately  and  uses  so  sparingl}'^  that  his  financial  statemmits 
are  singularly  lucid  and  unencumbered,  each  set  of 
figures  being  the  evidence  of  some  solid  argument.  By 
dint  of  great  perseverance,  the  country  has  at  last,  in 
some  measure,  been  got  to  realize  that  India  is  as  near 
as  possible  a  sucked  orange ;  and  that,  if  we  do  not 
retrace  our  steps  and  repent  us  of  the  evil  we  have  been 
doing,  the  "brightest  gem  in  her  Majesty's  diadem" 
will  speedily  be  in  pawn.  At  this  moment  an  Indian 
bankruptcy  stares  us  in  the  face,  with  all  its  terrible 
consequences.  The  lunit  of  taxation  has  been  reached, 
while  the  expenditure  of  the  administration  is  unlimited 
as  ever.  To  Mr.  Fawcett,  more  than  to  any  other  man 
or  half-dozen  of  men,  do  we  owe  our  knowledge  of  the 
appalling  condition  of  the  "brightest  gem,"  which,  if 
one  could  imagine  a  gem  being  so  ill-behaved,  may 
explode  any  day  with  such  violence  as  to  shake  to  its 
foundations  the  throne  not  merely  of  the  ' '  Empress  of 
India,"  but  that  of  the  Queen  of  England  also.  In  this 
grave  relation  the  voice  of  Henry  Fawcett  has  been  as 
the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness.  If  the  Brit- 
ish people  have  not  made  their  paths  straight,  it  has 
not  been  his  fault.  The  Indian  people  are  frequently 
taxed  by  Anglo-Indians  with  ingratitude.  I  ma}^  men- 
tion, by  the  way,  that  Mr.  Fawcett  has  not  found  it  so. 
Some  time  previous  to  the  last  general  election,  a  great 
number  of  very  poor  Hindoos  subscribed  a  sum  sufficient 
to  defray  the  cost  of  his  return  for  Hackney.  The  fund 
was  invested  for  the  purpose  in  the  names  of  Sir  Charles 
DUke,  Professor  Cowell,  and  Mr.  Dacosta. 

Mr.  Fawcett  is  not  merely  an  excellent  platform 
speaker  and  a  trenchant  parliamentaiy  debater,  but  he 
is  a  political  economist  of  no  mean  order.     His  ' '  Man- 


88  EIVIINENT  LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

ual  of  Political  Economy"  has  run  through  five  edi- 
tions, and  ought  to  be  in  the  hands  of  every  j'outhful 
student  of  economic  science.  The  "  Economic  Posi- 
tion of  the  British  Laborer ' '  is  likewise  a  valuable  con- 
tribution towards  the  elucidation  of  a  painful  subject ; 
while  "  Pauperism  :  its  Causes  and  Remedies,"  though, 
in  my  opinion,  mistaken  in  some  of  its  conclusions,  is 
3^et  an  eminently  suggestive  book. 

In  addition  to  the  above  works  Mr.  Fawcett  pub- 
lished in  June,  1879,  "  Free  Trade  and  Protection,"  one 
entire  edition  of  which  was  shipped  for  Australia  and 
the  United  States,  while  another  was  taken  up  by  the 
Cobden  Club.  There  is,  besides,  a  goodly  volume  of 
his  collected  "  Speeches,"  which  will  well  repay  pei-usal, 
and  another  of  "Essays,"  the  conjoint  production  of 
Mrs.  Fawcett  and  himself. 

In  conclusion,  I  cannot  mention  the  name  of  this  ac- 
complished lady  without  according  her  my  small  meed 
of  praise.  If  it  was  passing  sad  that  Mr.  Fawcett 
should  lose  the  use  of  his  own  eyes,  it  was  passing  for- 
tunate that  he  should  obtain  the  aid  of  such  another 
pair.  When  I  think  of  this,  it  almost  repents  me  that 
I  should  have  spoken  so  slightingly  of  the  compensation 
theorists  in  the  first  paragraph  of  this  sketch. 


VIII. 

JOSEPH  CHAMBERLAIN. 

"  I  am  your  mayor. 
Few  things  have  failed  to  which  I  set  my  will ; 
I  do  my  most  and  best." 

SIR  JOHN  FALSTAFF,  in  Ms  days  of  rotundity, 
could  recollect  a  time  when  he  was  slim  enough  to 
"creep  through  an  alderman's  thumb-ring."  But 
there  are  aldermen  and  aldermen.  The  Cockney  type, 
with  which  Shakespeare  was,  and  we  Londoners,  alas  ! 
are,  but  too  familiar,  is  an  ignorant,  obese,  pompous 
being,  "who  struts  and  stares  and  a'  that," — a 
glutton  and  a  wine-bibber,  an  inveterate  jobber,  and 
a  Jingo. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch.  Alderman  Chamberlain, 
M.P.,  the  renowned  ex-Mayor  of  Birmingham,  is  the 
exact  reverse  of  this  picture.  Of  all  living  Englishmen 
he  has  deservedly  earned  the  highest  reputation  as  a 
municipal  administrator,  and  he  remains  a  pre-emi- 
nently courteous  and  cultivated  gentleman,  —  a  lover  of 
books,  of  paintings,  and  of  flowers.  Indeed  I  have 
heard  an  excellent  judge  saj'"  of  the  ex-dictator  of 
Birmingham,  with  his  lithe  limbs  and  classical  features, 
that  he  is  perhaps  the  best  bred  man  in  Parliament ; 
and,  if  he  is  not  the  most  learned,  he  is  certainly  one  of 
the  most  studious,  members  of  the  House.     There  is  a 

89 


90  EMINENT  LIBEKALS   IN  PAELIAMENT. 

certain  "pale  cast  of  thought"  on  Mr.  Chamberlain's 
youthful,  handsome  face,  which  gives  an  added  interest 
to  his  charm  of  manner. 

Democracy,  it  has  been  alleged,  both  produces,  and 
is  partial  to,  coarseness  in  its  representatives.  The  re- 
verse is  nearer  the  truth.  Really  good  manners  —  the 
happy  way  of  doing  things  —  can  never  be  acquired  in 
an  exclusive  or  aristocratic  society,  by  reason  of  the 
paucity  and  uniformity  of  the  models  ;  and  it  is  an  in- 
disputable fact  that  Radical  constituencies,  coeteris  pari- 
bus, prefer  to  be  represented  by  men  of  culture  and 
refinement.  Witness  the  choice  by  Paris  of  such  repre- 
sentatives as  Victor  Hugo,  Ledru  RoUin,  and  Louis 
Blanc ;  and  by  Massachusetts,  of  Webster,  Adams, 
Charles  Sumner,  and  many  others  such.  If  in  England 
the  union  of  culture  and  Radicalism  is  less  observable, 
the  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  Excepting  Birmingham, 
which  returns  Bright  and  Chamberlain  to  Parliament, 
there  are  scarcely  any  genuinely  democratic  constituen- 
cies in  this  country.  We  are  aristocratic,  and  therefore 
coarse  in  our  preferences. 

But  this  does  not  help  me  with  the  ex-mayor,  who  is 
not  merely  a  thoughtful  political  student,  but  one  with 
whom  it  is  impossible  to  converse,  however  briefly, 
without  discerning  that  he  is  a  man  of  genuine  good 
feeling,  strict  integrity,  resolute  purpose,  and  unques- 
tioning belief  in  the  people  as  the  only  legitimate 
source  of  authority.  If  he  is  admired  by  the  men  of 
Birmingham,  the  admiration  is  at  least  mutual.  He  is 
a  singular  example  of  a  prophet  who  is  honored  in  his 
own  country,  and  who  makes  no  concealment  of  his 
conviction  that  that  country  is  "the  hub  of  the  uni- 
verse.' ' 


JOSEPH   CHAMBERLArN".  91 

His  remarkable  self-possession,  his  detractors  in  Par- 
liament have  been  pleased  to  call  overweening  self-con- 
fidence. It  is  really  nothing  of  the  kind.  There  are 
more  parliaments  than  that  mongrel  thing  which  assem- 
bles at  St.  Stephen's  to  do  little  but  mischief.  Is  there 
not  the  town  council  of  Birmingham,  the  threshold 
of  which  it  is  as  difficult  for  a  Tory  to  pass  as  for  a 
rich  man  to  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?  and  has  not 
Mr.  Chamberlain  for  3'ears  sat  princeps  inter  pares  in 
that  Radical  Witanagemot,  playing  the  part  of  a  ter- 
restrial Providence  to  an  entire  community?  If  Parlia- 
ment could  be  constituted  as  the  town  council  of 
Birmingham  is  constituted,  then  Mr.  Chamberlain 
might  begin  to  respect  it.  As  it  is,  he  feels  that  it  is 
below  rather  than  above  the  level  of  his  experience. 
The  parliamentary  machine  is  vaster  than  the  muni- 
cipal ;  but  its  mechanism  is  less  perfect,  and  the  re- 
sults are  every  way  less  satisfactory.  If  he  were  asked 
whether  the  town  council  of  Binningham  could  not 
manage  the  affairs  of  the  nation  better  than  the  entire 
paraphernalia  of  Queen,  Lords,  and  Commons,  I  have 
little  doubt  what  his  answer  would  be  ;  and  I  am  not  at 
all  sm-e  that  he  would  be  wrong. 

Parliament  has,  in  fact,  reached  an  unparalleled  state 
of  incompetency  and  inertia :  and  it  is  only  men  like 
Mr.  Chamberlain,  who  come  to  it  with  fresh  eyes  and 
with  an  undoubted  capacity  for  the  conduct  of  affairs, 
that  are  able  to  estimate  its  performances  at  their  true 
value.  Mr.  Chamberlain  has  shown  himself  to  be  what 
I  ma}'  call  a  great  municipal  statesman  ;  and,  being  so, 
he  has  perpetually  before  him  a  valuable  standard  of 
comparison,  such  as  is  not  possessed  in  an  equal  degree 
by  any  other  member  of  Parliament.      No  one  else 


92  EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

stands  exactly  on  the  same  political  plane  ;  and  no  one 
in  so  brief  a  space  —  it  is  scarcely  ten  years  since  he 
made  his  first  speech  in  support  of  Mr.  Dixon's  candi- 
dature for  Birmingham  —  ever  conti^ived  to  attach  to 
himself  a  more  numerous  and  respectable  following  in 
the  country. 

Mr.  Chamberlain  was  bom  in  London  in  July,  1836. 
He  is  consequently  in  his  forty-fourth  j-ear ;  but  in  ap- 
peai'ance  he  is  more  like  a  man  of  thirty-four  than  of 
forty-four.  The  Chamberlains  were  originall}^  a  family 
of  Wiltshire  j-eomanrj-,  settled  at  Shrivenham  ;  but,  for 
a  hundred  j^ears  previous  to  the  removal  of  the  late 
Mr.  Chamberlain  to  Birmingham,  they  had  carried  on, 
from  father  to  son,  on  the  same  spot  in  Milk  Street, 
Cheapside,  and  under  the  same  name,  an  extensive 
business  as  leather-merchants  and  shoe-manufacturers. 
In  religion  the  family  was  Unitarian,  and  almost,  as  a 
matter  of  com-se,  Radical  in  politics.  "  Take  a  thorn- 
bush,"  said  the  once  renowned  Abd-el-Kader,  "and 
sprinkle  it  for  a  whole  j^^ear  with  water :  it  will  yield 
nothing  but  thorns.  Take  a  date-tree,  leave  it  without 
culture,  and  it  will  always  produce  dates."  And  so  it 
was  with  Mr.  Chamberlain.  He  was  not  left  without 
culture  ;  for  a  Unitarian  upbringing  is  generally  an  edu- 
cation in  itself :  but  for  one  that  has  since  evinced  so 
mai-ked  a  capacity  for  literary  expression,  both  spoken 
and  written,  his  scholastic  training  appears  to  have 
been  but  meagre.  He  was,  indeed,  a  pupil  of  Univer- 
sity College  School  for  some  time  ;  but  at  the  early  age 
of  sixteen  he  was  put  to  business. 

In  his  eighteenth  j^ear  his  father  became  one  of  the 
partners  of  the  great  screw-manufacturing  firm  of  Net- 
tlefold  &  Chamberlain  at  Birmingham,  and  thither  the 


JOSEPH  CHAMBERLAIN.  98 

future  mayor  went  with  the  family.  There  he  devoted 
himself  assiduously  to  the  development  of  the  paternal 
industry,  which  ultimately  assumed  gigantic  propor- 
tions, the  firm  employing  as  many  as  two  thousand 
"  hands."  Throughout,  employers  and  employed  were 
on  the  best  of  terms  ;  and  when,  in  1875,  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain, after  his  father's  death,  finally  retired  from  the 
business  in  order  to  devote  hhnself  exclusively  to  the 
public  service,  he  did  so  with  an  ample  fortune  and 
the  best  wishes  of  the  numerous  operatives  of  the  firm, 
who  embraced  the  opportunity  to  bestow  on  him  a  hand- 
some token  of  their  regard  in  the  shape  of  a  valuable  piece 
of  plate.  Mr.  Chamberlain  has  oftener  than  once  acted 
as  an  arbitrator  in  labor  disputes,  and  alwa^'s  with  the 
utmost  fairness  and  good  sense  ;  his  most  notable  award, 
l^erhaps,  being  one  which  substituted  a  sliding-scale  for 
a  fixed  rate  in  the  memorable  coal-miuing  strike  in 
Stafibrdshire  in  1873-74. 

Mr.  Chamberlain  was  thirty-two  years  of  age  before 
he  ever  addressed  his  fellow-citizens  ;  and  he  at  once 
made  his  mark  as  a  singularly  clear,  articulate,  method- 
ical speaker.  The  fact  is  peculiar,  but  not  altogether 
inexplicable.  For  years  before,  he  had  been  a  diligent 
reader,  utilizing  all  his  spare  time  in  his  librar}^  the 
shelves  of  which  are  filled  with  some  three  thousand 
well-selected  volumes.  He  had  thus  acquired  much 
knowledge ;  and,  what  with  a  ready  tongue  and  rare 
nei-ve,  he  felt  fully  equipped  for  the  brilliant  public 
career  on  which  he  entered  in  1868. 

Onerous  and  honorable  duties  were  at  once  thrust  on 
him.  In  18G8  he  accepted  the  chairmanship  of  the 
famous  Education  League,  and  in  the  same  jear  he 
became  a  member  of  the  town  council.     In  1870  he  was 


94         EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

returned  as  one  of  the  members  of  the  School  Board  of 
Birmingham ;  and  in  1873,  when  the  Secularists,  so 
called,  secured  a  majority  on  the  board,  he  was  elected 
chainnan.  In  187o  he  was  likewise  unanimousl}'  elect- 
ed mayor,  and  in  1874  and  1875  a  similar  honor  awaited 
him.  At  the  general  election  in  1874  he  contested 
Sheffield  in  the  Radical  interest ;  but  the  town  of  Roe- 
buck, Broadhead,  and  "  The  Sheffield  Telegraph,"  knew 
itself  better  than  to  seek  the  services  of  so  reputable  a 
representative.  He  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  poll,  the 
"  frightful  example"  to  all  Radicals,  Roebuck  being  at 
the  top.  An  army  of  one  thousand  five  hundi'cd  publi- 
cans worked  night  and  day  for  this  result.  The  whole 
town  was  given  over  to  indescribable  riot ;  and  Mr. 
Chamberlain,  who  exhibited  the  greatest  personal  intre- 
pidity and  good  humor,  was  oftener  than  once  exposed 
to  serious  risks.  Roebuck,  singularly  enough,  was 
supported  by  "  The  Daily  News."  Not  many  months 
elapsed,  however,  before  Mr.  Dixon  retired  from  the 
representation  of  Birmingham,  and  the  mayor  took  his 
place  in  l^arliament  unopposed. 

One  event  that  occurred  in  Mr.  Chamberlain's  may- 
oralty I  must  not  forget.  In  November,  1874,  the 
Prince  of  Wales  practically  invited  himself  to  Birming- 
ham, and  much  curiosity  was  felt  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  the  mayor  would  receive  the  heir-apparent.  Mr. 
Chamberlain  has  never  concealed  his  preference  for 
republican  institutions,  and  the  visit  was  necessaril}'  of 
a  somewhat  embarrassing  character.  Nay,  more,  the 
court  party  probabl}'  intended  it  to  embarrass.  Thej^ 
had  scored  an  immense  triumph,  and  they  were  deter- 
mined to  follow  it  up  by  bearding  Radicalism  at  head- 
quarters.     They    had    succeeded    in    cementing    the 


JOSEPH  CHAMBERLAES".  96 

shattered  reputation  of  his  Royal  Highness  with  surpris- 
ing cunning.  After  the  theatrical  and  almost  blasphe- 
mous apotheosis  of  the  prinoe  at  St.  Paul's  on  the 
occasion  of  his  recovery  from  an  illness  which  it  would 
take  a  great  deal  to  convince  me  was  not  purposely 
exaggerated,  it  was  evidently  felt  that  almost  any  thing 
might  be  attempted  in  the  way  of  humbugging  the 
people.  Vult  populus  decijyi  et  decipiatur.  The  repub- 
lican mayor  was  to  be  put  on  his  metal ;  and  what  he 
did  was  this :  he  agreed  to  receive  the  prince  as  the 
guest  of  the  town  ;  but  he  voted  against  defraying  any 
portion  of  the  expenses  of  the  royal  visit  out  of  the 
public  rates.  Rather  than  that,  he  would  be  host  him- 
self. For  the  rest,  to  have  received  the  young  man  at 
all,  Mr.  Chamberlain  could  not  have  gone  through  the 
performance  with  less  offence  to  republican  feeling. 
His  language  was  a  miracle  of  dexterous  steering  be- 
tween loyalty  to  the  people  and  loyalty  to  the  prince,  — 
two  interests  forever  incompatible.  All  the  same  his 
Royal  Highness  had  the  best  of  it.  "NVhat  royalty  want- 
ed was  a  big  gi-atis  advertisement  at  the  expense  of  the 
Radical  Mecca,  and  it  got  it.  The  British  monarchy 
exists,  as  quack  medicines  exist,  by  dint  of  wholesale 
' '  puffing  ; ' '  the  only  difference  being  that  the  first  is 
gratuitoush'  advertised  by  its  dupes,  while  notices  of 
the  latter  are  paid  for  by  the  parties  directly  interested. 
Now  the  mayor  unquestionably  placed  himself  among 
the  dupes  of  roj'alty  ;  but  I  am  free  to  admit  he  was  in 
a  strait  place. 

But  Mr.  Chamberlain's  mayoralty  was  distinguished 
by  more  useful,  if  less  ornamental,  work  than  that  of 
entertaining  worthless  princes.  In  the  successive  years 
during  which  he  presided  over  the  town  council  with 


96  EMINENT  LIBEEALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

consummate  tact  and  administrative  talent,  he  coura- 
geously grappled  with  three  great  questions  affecting  the 
welfare  of  the  borough.  Unlike  most  towns  of  more 
ancient  date,  Binningham  possessed  no  revenue  but  the 
rates  when  Mr.  Chamberlain  took  office.  He  looked 
about,  and  soon  found  another  source  of  civic  income. 
He  resolved  that  Birmingham  should  no  longer  be  at 
the  mercy  of  private  companies  for  its  gas-supply.  He 
made  up  his  mind  that  the  corporation  should  possess 
itself  of  the  undertakings  of  the  Birmingham  Gas- 
light and  Coke  Company,  and  of  the  Birmingham  and 
Staffordshire  Gaslight  Companj^,  and  he  was  man- 
fully backed  by  the  council.  And  with  what  result? 
In  three  years'  time  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  have 
been  appropriated  in  aid  of  the  rates,  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars  allocated  as  a  reserve  fund,  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars  as  a  sinking  fund  ;  while  the 
cost  of  gas  to  the  consumers  has  been  reduced  twelve 
cents  per  thousand  cubic  feet,  being  equivalent  to  a 
saving  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  per  annum. 

Having  thus  disposed  of  the  two  gas  companies* 
undertakings,  Mr.  Chamberlain  next  resolved  to  deal 
with  that  of  the  Birmingham  "Waterworks  Company. 
It  also,  after  the  inevitable  calculations,  negotiations, 
and  parliamentary  action,  became  the  property  of  the 
corporation  ;  and,  though  it  has  not  been  deemed  advis- 
able to  raise  revenue  out  of  such  a  primary  necessary 
of  life  as  water,  a  good  reserve  fund  has  been  laid  past, 
and  a  thoroughly  efficient  supply  seciired  to  the  com- 
munity. 

Like  other  towns,  Birmingham  is  not  without  its 
' '  slums ; ' '  and  to  these  the  mayor  next  turned  his 
attention.     Taking  advantage  of  the  provisions  of  the 


JOSEPH   CHAMBERLAIN.  97 

Artisans'  Dwellings  Improvement  Act,  and  borrowing 
at  the  three  and  a  half  per  cent  rate,  the  corporation 
has  already  purchased  for  the  sum  of  seven  million 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars  the  area  covered  by  all 
the  vilest  habitations  in  the  borough.  The  act  em- 
powers the  municipal  authorities  to  pull  down,  but 
not  to  re-erect.  The  private  individuals,  however,  to 
whom  the  corporation  may  convey  a  title,  will  have 
to  rebuild  under  conditions  conformable  to  the  health 
of  the  communit}'  and  to  the  special  convenience  of  the 
working-class.  It  need  surprise  no  one  if  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain be  yet  found  to  have  been  a  better  sort  of 
Haussman  to  Birmingham. 

Nor  are  the  daring  schemes  of  this  municipal  in- 
novator 3'et  exhausted.  Not  content  with  giving  the 
people  light,  water,  and  wholesome  dwellings,  he  is  the 
author  of  a  scheme  to  make  them  the  proprietors  of 
their  own  public-houses  ;  and,  from  the  favorable  man- 
ner in  which  the  Lords'  Committee  on  Intemperance 
have  spoken  of  his  proposals,  it  is  not  at  all  unlikely 
that  Parliament  will  permit  the  capital  of  the  midlands 
to  make  the  experiment  which  her  ex-mayor  desires. 

What  he  proposes  is,  that  the  corporation  should 
possess  itself  of  all  the  public-houses  in  Birmingham,  — 
some  eighteen  hundred  in  number,  —  the  owners  ha\'ing 
first  been  expropriated  on  a  scale  of  compensation 
fixed  by  the  legislature.  Thereupon  one  thousand  are 
to  be  abolished  at  a  stroke,  and  the  remainder  equipped 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  supply  all  the  legitimate  wants 
of  the  community.  And  the  scheme,  he  calculates,  will 
pay,  and  paj"  well. 

It  has  several  obvious  advantages.  The  sen^ants  of 
the   corporation  would,  unlike  the  publicans,  have  no 


98         EMINENT   LIBERALS  IN   PARLIAMENT. 

interest  either  in  the  insobriety  of  their  customers  or 
the  adulteration  of  the  liquor  sold.  The  poor  man's 
drink  would  be  as  good  as  the  rich  man's,  which  is  far 
from  being  the  case  at  present ;  the  political  power  of 
the  publican  would  be  annihilated  ;  and  last,  not  least, 
the  necessit}'  for  police  espionage  would  be  almost  at 
an  end.  There  is  no  one  cure  for  di'unkenness :  but 
this  seems  as  feasible  as  any  for  a  great  community ; 
and,  if  the  ratepayers  of  Birmingham  are  wilUng  to  risk 
their  money  in  giving  so  bold  an  application  of  the 
Gothenburg  system  a  fair  trial,  there  can  be  no  reason 
in  the  world  why  they  should  be  restrained.  It  may 
be  that  Birmingham  is  destined  to  initiate  a  public- 
house  reform  as  contagious  as  has  been  the  example 
which  she  has  set  to  other  places  in  respect,  for  ex- 
ample, of  education  and  Liberal  organization. 

As  chairman  of  the  School  Board  of  Birmingham, 
and  as  president  of  the  National  Education  League, 
Mr.  Chamberlain  has  achieved  nearly  as  great  things 
in  the  educational  as  in  the  municipal  world.  Under 
his  chairmanship  of  the  Birmingham  board,  a  complete 
separation  was  effected  between  secular  and  religious 
instruction,  while  fourteen  thousand  five  hundred  chil- 
dren were  added  to  the  board  schools,  and  nine 
thousand  seven  hundred  to  the  denominational.  The 
league,  of  course,  was  not  able  to  embody  its  ideal  of 
a  free,  universal,  compulsory,  and  secular  sj'stem  of 
education ;  but  all  the  same  it  did  a  world  of  good  in 
curbing  the  vagaries  of  Mr.  Forster,  and  the  insolent 
pretensions  of  churchmen. 

In  1876  the  league  was  dissolved ;  but  its  spirit  yet 
liveth,  and  may  perchance  before  long  take  unto  itself 
a  new  body.     Should  this  not  be  so,  its  programme  is 


JOSEPH   CHAMBERLAIN.  99 

nevertheless  as  certain  to  be  ultimately  realized  as  has 
been  the  case  with  tho  "points"  of  the  "People's 
Charter." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  enlarge  further  on  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain's  local  achievements.  He  has  a  manifest  genius 
for  administrative  detail,  and,  as  President  of  the  Board 
of  Trade,  it  is  universally  acknowledged  that  he  is  in  his 
right  place.  His  speeches  in  Parliament  on  the  County 
Boards  Bill  and  the  Prisons  Bill  would  alone  have 
stamped  him  as  a  master  of  every  thing  that  pertains 
to  a  "  spirited  domestic  policy,"  of  which  the  country 
stands  so  much  in  need,  and  of  which  the  evil  spirit  of 
Jingo  has  permitted  it  to  hear  so  little. 

Mr.  Chamberlain,  however,  has  greater  claims  on  the 
Liberal  party  than  any  that  I  have  yet  adduced,  and 
these  are  of  a  special  and  most  important  character. 
When  our  spirits  have  failed  us,  and  the  majority  have 
seemed  disposed  to  be  "led," — whither,  our  "lead- 
ers" would  not  or  could  not  tell  us,  —  he  has  always 
come  cheerily  up  in  the  pages  of  "  The  Fortnightly" 
with  a  new  "programme"  to  put  in  our  hands.  He 
has  rallied  us  to  the  cry  of  free  land,  free  chiu-ch,  free 
schools,  and  free  labor ;  and,  when  that  was  not  enough, 
he  has  set  himself  to  ' '  re-organize ' '  and  put  us  in 
marching  order  with  our  faces  to  the  foe.  Like  all 
true  men  and  brave  spirits,  he  is  greatest  and  most 
helpful  in  adversity.  For  why  ?  Is  he  not  the  father 
of  the  much-derided,  much-denounced  "caucus,"  which 
is  yet  destined  to  be  such  an  important  factor  in  the 
political  life  of  England  ? 

Mr.  Chamberlain,  however,  claims  no  special  credit 
in  connection  with  the  so-called  caucus.  He  simply 
regards  it  as  in  some  form  inevitable,  and  therefore  he 


100       EMINENT   LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

tries  to  make  the  most  of  it.  With  the  old  restricted 
franchise,  when  the  electors  were  a  select  and  privileged 
class,  no  such  party  discipline  was  required.  A  caucus 
in  the  English  sense  is  simply  an  elected  committee. 
Sixty  voters  may  require  no  such  committee  to  prepare 
their  business  for  them,  simply  because  they  are  practi- 
cally a  committee  already.  It  is  quite  another  matter 
when  the  numbers  rise  to  six  hundred,  or  six  thousand, 
or  sixteen  thousand,  as  the  case  may  be.  Then  some 
understanding  must  be  come  to,  some  suitable  machinery 
must  be  devised  to  give  effect  to  the  general  desires. 
In  such  circumstances  the  English  race  naturally  and 
instinctively  have  recourse  to  popular  election  to  rectify 
matters  ;  and  this,  after  all,  is  the  worst  sin  that  can  be 
laid  at  the  door  of  the  "  caucus."  The  great  matter, 
Mr.  Chamberlain  insists,  is  to  insure  that  j'our  hundi*ed, 
three  hundred,  or  six  hundred  be  tinily  representative  of 
the  party  voters.  If  that  is  secured,  all  is  well ;  if  not, 
not.  Whoever  distrusts  the  caucus  honestly  worked, 
distrusts  the  people  as  the  true  source  of  power.  The 
party  vote  need  not  be  one  whit  less  honestly  recorded 
because  it  is  informal.  Such,  as  I  understand  it,  is 
Mr.  Chamberlain's  position,  and  it  seems  wellnigh  un- 
answerable. What  then  are  the  advantages  of  such  an 
organization  of  the  Liberal  forces?  They  are  various. 
One  is,  and  it  is  perhaps  the  most  obvious,  that  it  tends 
to  put  a  strong  check  on  what  Scotsmen  call  "  divisive 
courses"  at  elections.  At  the  general  election  of  1874 
twenty-six  votes  on  a  division  were  lost  to  the  Liberal 
cause  through  a  suicidal  multiplication  of  Liberal  candi- 
dates £^t  the  polls  !  There  is,  however,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted, another  and  a  much  more  certain  method  of 
preventing  such  disasters;    viz.,  the  French  method 


JOSEPH  CHAMBERLAIN.  101 

of  compelling  by  law  a  second  ballot  where  no  one  can- 
didate has  secured  a  clear  majority  of  the  voters. 

It  is  perhaps  too  much  to  expect  that  any  such  sensi- 
ble rule  will  ever  be  adopted  by  the  British  legislature  ; 
but  Mr.  Chamberlain  admits  that  is  the  true  remedy, 
although  that  provided  by  the  caucus  is,  of  course,  not 
inconsistent  with  it.  But  it  is  not  on  this  ground  so 
much  that  Mr.  Chamberlain  justifies  the  caucus.  He 
regards  it  as  an  invaluable  school  for  political  instruc- 
tion. Nor  is  that  all.  The  National  Liberal  Federa- 
tion, of  which  Mr.  Chamberlain  is  president,  has  in 
more  than  one  sudden  emergency  shown  a  promptitude 
in  bringing  pressure  to  bear  on  the  Government  by 
means  of  powerful  deputations  and  concerted  public 
meetings  that  never  could  have  been  rivalled  by  any 
conceivable  isolated  action.  Mr.  Bright,  in  introdu- 
cing to  Lords  Hartington  and  Granville  the  great  na- 
tional deputation  in  favor  of  peace,  summoned  by  the 
federation  and  the  National  Reform  Union,  pointedly 
described  it  as  "  a  remarkable  deputation,  such  a  one 
as  I  have  not  seen  before  in  mj^  political  experience." 
Of  course,  with  a  more  constitutional  Premier  than  Bea- 
consfield  at  the  helm  of  the  state,  the  occasions  on 
which  the  federation  will  require  to  review  its  forces 
will  be  few  and  far  between  ;  but  certainly,  in  the  light 
of  the  late  "  imperial  "  menace,  the  Liberal  party  owes 
the  president  of  the  federation  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude 
for  the  disinterested  sagacity  he  displayed  in  striving  to 
furnish  it  with  such  a  potent  weapon  of  defence  ready 
to  its  hand. 

The  National  Liberal  Federation  was  constituted  at 
Birmingham  in  May,  1877  ;  and  Mr.  Gladstone,  it  will 
be  remembered,  was  one  of  its  sponsors.     It  then  num- 


102       EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

Ibered  forty-six  associations  ;  it  has  now  risen  to  over  a 
hundred,  and  everj'  week  adds  to  its  strength  and  effi- 
ciency. At  the  late  general  election  the  caucus  vindi- 
cated its  power  with  such  emphasis  wherever  it  had 
taken  root,  that,  from  the  election  agent's  point  of  view, 
the  Liberal  victory  was  its  victory-.  It  combines  in  a 
marvellous  manner  complete  local  autonomy  with  a  ca- 
pacity for  concerted  action  something  like  that  which 
existed  amongst  the  Hanse  Towns  of  the  middle  ages. 
Mr.  Chamberlain  has  done  surprising  things  as  a  party 
organizer ;  but  this  is  distinctly  his  masterpiece. 


IX. 

THOMAS  BURT. 

"  Go  far  and  go  sparing; 
For  you'll  find  it  certain, 
The  poorer  and  baser  you  appear, 
The  more  you'll  look  through  still." 

THE  results  of  the  general  election  of  1874  were 
surprising  in  many  respects,  and  to  many  persons, 
but  probably  to  none  more  so  than  Mr.  Thomas  Burt, 
M.P.  While  other  prospective  legislators  were  study- 
ing or  wassailing  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  the  honor- 
able member  for  Morpeth  was  laboriously  ransacking 
the  bowels  of  the  earth  in  grimy  Northumberland  for 
coals  wherewith  to  supply  the  complex  wants  of  the 
British  public.  Like  Goldsmith's  village  preacher,  "  he 
ne'er  had  changed,  nor  wished  to  change,  his  place  ; " 
and,  when  his  fellows  first  advised  him  of  their  intention 
to  bring  him  forward  as  a  candidate  for  parliamentary 
honors,  he  replied  in  the  words  of  the  anti-Utopian,  — 

"  O  brothers!  speak  of  possibilities, 
And  do  not  break  into  these  wild  extremes." 

But  elected  he  was  to  take  his  seat  among  his  ' '  bet- 
ters ' '  — •  among  lordlings  and  milUonnaires  —  in  the 
choicest  of  West-end  metropolitan  clubs,  and  that,  too, 
with  an  ease  which  contrasted  shar^^ly  with  the  ill  suc- 
cess in  other  constituencies  of  more  widely  known  ' '  la- 
bor candidates." 

103 


104       EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

This  effect,  however,  was  not  without  an  efficient 
cause.  Apart  from  the  fact  that  the  Morpeth  register 
was  in  a  condition  exceptionally  favorable  to  the  return 
of  a  genuine  working-man,  Mr.  Burt  was  in  reality, 
with  all  his  seeming  diffidence  and  meagre  presence,  an 
exceedingly  formidable  candidate.  He  is  able  and 
"canny"  to  a  degree,  and  conspicuously  devoid  of 
those  faults  that  do  more  easily  beset  trades-union 
leaders.  He  never,  for  example,  speaks  on  anj'  sub- 
ject with  which  he  is  not  thoroughly  conversant,  and 
his  range  of  topics  is  by  no  means  limited.  He  never 
tells  you  on  the  first  occasion  that  j-ou  are  alone  with 
him,  that  eveiy  other  exponent  of  the  claims  of  labor, 
except  himself,  is  a  fool  or  a  knave ;  and,  when  he 
makes  an  engagement,  he  keeps  it  with  all  the  punctu- 
ality of  a  good  middle-class  man  of  business  who 
knows  the  value  of  time.  He  is,  in  truth,  a  singularly 
fair-minded  man,  as  capable  of  looking  at  any  issue 
arising  in  the  labor  market  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  employer  as  of  the  employed.  From  contact  and 
observation  he  has  learned  to  combine,  in  a  great  meas- 
ure, the  characteristic  virtues  of  both  classes,  while 
discarding  their  special  vices.  His  sympathies  are,  of 
course,  entirely  with  the  working-man  ;  but  the  impar- 
tiality of  his  judgment  saves  him  from  any  thing  like 
indiscriminate  partisanship. 

His  workingmanism,  too,  is  of  such  a  catholic  kind  as 
practically  to  obliterate  the  hateful  distinctions  of  class 
altogether.  It  does  not  stop  at  hand-workers,  but  em- 
braces all  honest  brain-workers  as  well.  It  is  only 
with  the  monstrous  army  of  royal  and  aristocratic  Do- 
nothings  and  Eat-alls,  which  in  this  England  of  ours  is 
permitted  to  such  an  unparalleled  extent  to  lay  waste 


THOMAS   BURT.  105 

the  harvest  of  honest  industry,  that  Mr.  Burt  is  at  war. 
In  politics  he  is  a  very  intelligent  English  Radical,  and 
nothing  more.  lie  is  actuated  by  no  Socialistic  or 
subversive  passions  ;  and,  if  he  gives  the  best  portion 
of  his  legislative  attention  to  the  interests  of  his  own 
class,  it  is  simply  because  he  thinks,  and  thinks  justly, 
that  these  are  the  most  neglected  at  St.  Stephen's. 
We  hear  of  "officers  and  gentlemen."  If  he  is  a 
workman,  he  is  likewise  a  gentleman.  Like  the  late 
Mr.  Odger,  he  has  succeeded  in  completely  emanci- 
pating himself  from  the  warping  influences  of  class 
feeling  ;  and  by  dint  of  a  severe  course  of  reading  and 
reflection  he  has  arrived  at  conceptions  of  the  public 
good  which  may  be  truly  called  statesmanlike.  There 
ai-e  not  many  men  in  Parliament  regarding  whom  it 
would  be  honest  to  aver  as  much.  But  the  politics  of 
the  pit  are  manifestly  more  enlightened,  more  national 
in  scope,  than  those  of  church  or  castle,  bar  or  barrack- 
room  ;  and,  if  Mr.  Thomas  Burt  be  a  fair  specimen  of 
"pitmen"  politicians,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying 
that  it  is  a  misfortune  for  the  country  that  there  are  so 
few  of  them  in  the  House.  Wonderful  to  relate,  he 
represents  his  constituents  in  Parliament,  not  himself. 
In  the  path  of  such  a  man,  if  the  ti-uth  were  told,  at 
least  as  many  snares  are  apt  to  be  laid  at  Westminster 
as  at  Washington  ;  and,  to  my  certain  knowledge,  Mr. 
Burt  has,  on  more  occasions  than  one,  resisted  the 
machinations  of  the  tempter  with  scrupulous  fidelity. 

JNIr.  Burt  was  born  at  Murton  Row,  a  small  hamlet 
about  two  miles  from  North  Shields,  Northumberland, 
in  November,  1837.  His  ancestors,  needless  to  saj', 
did  not  "  come  over  at  the  Conquest."  The  fact  is  not 
recorded;   but  I  believe  they  were  in  England  long 


106       EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

before  that  great  national  calamity.  His  father,  Peter 
Bui-t,  was  an  upright,  hard-working  miner,  much 
addicted  in  his  spare  hours,  if  he  may  be  said  to  have 
enjo3'ed  such,  to  I'rimitive  Methodism,  trades-unionism, 
and  reading.  He  was  a  "  local  preacher ; "  and  his 
literary'  tastes,  as  may  be  readily  imagined,  had  a  strong 
theological  bias.  But  he  was  distinctly  a  superior  man, 
and  no  mere  narrow-minded  sectarian.  The  truly  apos- 
tolic Channing  was  among  his  treasured  authors,  —  an 
insignificant  fact  perhaps  in  itself,  but  one  which  helped 
materially  to  stimulate  the  youthful  intelligence  of  his 
son,  and  to  cast  his  character  in  a  noble  mould. 

Thomas  Burt' s  mother  was  likewise  no  ordinarj'  per- 
son. She  possessed  a  solid  judgment  and  a  tender 
heart ;  and  while  she  lived  she  was  the  angel  of  the 
lowly  household,  which  saw  many  ups  and  downs  before 
the  member  for  Morpeth  reached  man's  estate. 

"When  Burt  was  but  seven  years  of  age,  the  great 
Northumberland  strike  began  ;  and  he  thus  early  tasted 
something  of  the  bitter  fruit  of  these  labor  struggles, 
which  he  has  since  exerted  himself  so  strenuously  to 
avert.  Burt,  senior,  being  a  prominent  striker,  his 
family,  with  many  others,  was  evicted  from  its  humble 
abode,  and  might  have  perished  from  exposure  but  for 
the  benevolent  intervention  of  a  neighboring  farmer, 
who  contrived  to  accommodate  no  fewer  than  three 
households  in  two  small  rooms.  At  the  end  of  the 
strike,  Burt's  father,  being  a  "marked  man,"  and  re- 
garding discretion  as  the  better  part  of  valor,  retreated 
to  Helton,  in  the  county  of  Durham,  where  he  found 
employment  for  about  a  year.  Subsequently  the  family 
moved  to  Haswell  Blue  House,  —  a  hamlet  midway 
between  Haswell  and  Sholton  Collieries ;    and  in  the 


THOMAS   BURT.  107 

former  of  these  mines  Thomas  Burt,  M.P.,  commenced 
work  as  a  "trapper"  on  his  tentli  birthday.  His 
schooling  had  necessarily  been  of  an  irregular  kind ; 
and  though  not  without  — 

"  The  gleams  and  glooms  that  dart 
Across  the  schoolboy's  bi'ain, 
The  song  and  the  silence  in  the  heart, 
That  in  part  are  prophecies,  and  in  part 
Are  longings  wild  and  vain," — 

Burt  entered  the  Inferno  of  Haswell  Colliery  without 
having  exhibited  any  conspicuous  talent ;  and,  to  all 
appearance,  the  gates  of  night  closed  remorselessly 
behind  him. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  those,  if  there  be  any  such, 
who  still  believe  in  th^  luxurious  miner  of  the  news- 
paper legend,  with  his  curious  taste  in  champagne, 
pianos,  and  greyhounds,  to  know  something  of  the  hon- 
orable member' s  underground  experiences  ;  and  these, 
I  may  premise,  were  by  no  means  exceptional.  He 
commenced  as  a  "trapper,"  at  twenty  cents  per  day 
of  twelve  hours.  A  "trapper"  is  a  doorkeeper  who 
sat,  or  sits,  in  utter  darkness,  peering  wistfully  into  the 
' '  palpable  obscure ' '  for  the  approach  of  any  mortal 
with  a  lamp.  Such  occupation  might  suit  a  notorious 
criminal  of  a  philosophical  turn  of  mind,  but  none 
other.  Promotion,  however,  soon  came  Mr.  Burt's 
way.  He  became  a  subterranean  "donkey-driver," 
and  his  wages  rose  eight  cents  per  diem.  Then  fol- 
lowed ' '  management  of  an  inclined  plane ' '  at  Sherburn 
House  Pit,  between  Durham  and  Thornley,  wages  from 
thu'ty-two  to  thirty-six  cents ;  and,  later,  two  3^ears' 
"  putting,"  or  ponj^-driving,  at  Dalton  Colliery,  wages 
from  thii-ty-six  to  fifty  cents  per  diem.     In  1851  the 


108       EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

family  ceased  to  sojourn  in  Durham,  and  returned  to 
its  native  Northimiberland,  settling  ultimately  for  a 
period  of  eight  or  nine  j-ears  at  Seaton  Delaval.  Here 
further  promotion  awaited  young  Burt.  He  became  a 
"water-leader,"  and  his  wages  varied  from  sixty  to 
eightj^-four  cents  per  day.  "Water-leading  "  is  not  a 
specially  amusing  occupation.  Before  you  know  where 
30U  are,  you  are  frequently  up  to  the  waist  in  the  sub- 
terranean liquid,  which  has  about  as  much  fancy  for 
being  "led"  as  a  Tipperary  pig.  Add  to  this  that  the 
horn's  of  labor,  though  nominally  twelve,  were  practi- 
cally thirteen  "  from  bank  to  bank,"  and  that  the  dis- 
tance to  and  from  home  was  a  good  two  miles'  walk, 
and  it  will  readily  be  granted  that  the  honorable  mem- 
ber for  Morpeth' s  opportunities  for  self-culture  were  in 
no  way  enviable. 

At  fifteen  years  of  age  he  had,  besides,  recklessly 
cut  himself  off  from  the  consolation  of  champagne  by 
becoming  a  total  abstainer ;  and  somewhat  later  he  had 
to  cure  an  inherited  weakness  for  the  cultivation  of 
music,  simply  because  he  had  no  time  to  spare.  In  his 
eighteenth  year,  however,  he  graduated  as  a  pitman. 
He  became  a  "  hewer,"  and  his  wages  rose  as  high  as 
a  dollar  or  even  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  diem,  the 
hours  of  labor  sensibly  diminishing  at  the  same  time. 

And  so  on  Mr.  Burt  went,  "toiling,  rejoicing,  sor- 
rowing," till  the  autumn  of  1865,  when  he  was  elected 
b}'  his  brother-workmen  general  secretary  of  the  North- 
umberland Miners'  Association.  Then,  after  eighteen 
years  of  unremitting  underground  toil,  and  the  usual 
miners'  hairbreadth  escapes  with  his  life,  Mr.  Burt  got 
permanently  to  the  surface ;  and  eight  years  later  hia 
apparition  startled  the  "  rich  men  "  at  St.  Stephen's. 


THOMAS   BXJET.  109 

From  pit  to  Parliament  is  assuredly  a  long  way  and 
an  arduous.  It  may  not  be  a  very  great  or  even  de- 
sirable distinction  to  be  able  to  write  M.P.  after  one's 
name  ;  but  nobody  will  deny,  that  to  earn  the  right,  as 
matters  stand,  is  an  achievement  of  almost  fabulous 
difficulty  for  a  man  that  has  neither  birth  nor  wealth  to 
recommend  hun.  In  Mr.  Burt's  case  both  these  pass- 
ports to  electoral  influence  were  conspicuous  onlj'  by 
their  absence  ;  yet  here  he  is  with  perhaps  as  attached 
a  constituency  as  any  in  England  behind  him.  Other 
members  pay  vast  sums  for  the  honor  of  being  per- 
mitted to  represent  their  constituents  in  Parliament. 
Here,  on  the  contrary'',  3^ou  have  a  body  of  electors  who 
voluntarily  tax  themselves  in  order  to  pay  their  member 
a  salary  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  a  year  for 
representing  them.  Was  there  ever  a  more  daring  out- 
rage on  constitutional  propriety  ?  And,  what  is  stranger 
still,  this  phenomenal  member,  whose  praises  are  alike 
in  the  mouths  of  ministerialists  and  opposition,  is  an 
avowed  foe  of  royalty  and  aristocracy,  of  "beer  and 
the  Bible."  There  is  scarcely  an  "  ism,"  from  repub- 
licanism downwards,  that  he  cannot  swallow  without  so 
much  as  making  a  wry  face.  Since  Andrew  Marvell's 
time  there  has  been  no  such  marvel  in  Parliament  as 
Thomas  Burt,  the  chosen  of  Mori^eth. 

At  about  fifteen  years  of  age  he  began,  all  uncon- 
sciousl}'  of  course,  to  educate  himself  for  the  discharge 
of  his  present  responsible  duties.  And  he  educated 
himself  to  some  purpose.  "While  "his  companions 
slept,"  this  physically  feeble  but  mentally  strong 
Northumbrian  miner  was  ' '  toiling  upwards  in  the 
night."  He  eschewed  the  public-house,  and  kept  the 
very  best  society,  —  the  society  of  Channing,  Milton, 


110       EMINENT  LIBERALS   EST  PARLIAMENT. 

Emerson,  and  Carlyle ;  of  Shakespeare,  Tennyson, 
Longfellow,  Wordsworth,  Shelley,  and  Bums  ;  of  Burke, 
Grattan,  and  Curran  ;  of  Macaulay,  Gibbon,  and  Hume  ; 
of  Scott,  Thackeray,  Dickens,  and  George  Eliot ;  of 
Adam  Smith,  John  Stuart  Mill,  Bastiat,  Fawcett,  Thorn- 
ton, and  other  illustrious  intellects.  Latin  and  French 
he  hammered  out  as  best  he  could  from  the  pages  of 
"  Cassell's  Popular  Educator,"  while  Euclid  and  short- 
hand received  no  inconsiderable  share  of  his  attention. 
And  whatever  he  read  he  mastered,  and  assimilated 
with  a  rare  appreciation  of  all  that  he  found  true  and 
beautiful. 

Then  came  the  application  of  all  this  acquirement,  — 
a  true  and  beneficent  application.  He  did  not  wrap 
his  talents  in  a  napkin,  but  devoted  them  ungrudgingly 
to  the  elevation  of  his  fellow- workmen.  He  lectured 
on  temperance,  trades -unionism,  arbitration,  co-opera- 
tion, education,  the  advantages  of  mechanics'  insti- 
tutes, politics,  and  gradually  became  a  clear,  judicious, 
and  convincing  public  speaker.  He  was  a  Sunday- 
school  teacher,  a  day-school  secretary,  and  an  organizer 
of  temperance  societies.  He  came  to  read  men,  as  he 
had  read  books,  with  intelligence  and  sympathy ;  and 
the  miners  on  their  part  were  quick  and  generous  to 
discern  that  they  had  found  in  their  fellow-workman  a 
true  friend  and  able  counsellor. 

In  1860  the  Burts  left  Seaton  Delaval,  and  settled  at 
Choppington,  now  a  portion  of  the  parliamentary  bor- 
ough of  Morpeth ;  and  here  it  was  that  the  great 
administrative  talents  of  the  honorable  member  first 
displayed  themselves.  He  speedily  became  the  dele- 
gate of  the  Choppington  men,  and  ultimately,  in  18G5, 
general  secretary  of  the  Northumbrian  Miners'  Mutual 
Confident  Association. 


THOMAS   BURT.  Ill 

The  union  was  then  under  a  heavy  cloud.  There 
was  but  one  hundred  and  fifteen  dollars  in  the 
exchequer,  and  an  extensive  strike  —  the  Cramlington 
—  was  proceeding.  The  new  secretary  was  bitterly 
attacked  by  "  A  Coalowner ' '  in  the  columns  of  ' '  The 
Newcastle  Chronicle."  .  He  replied  with  characteristic 
dignity  and  spirit.  "  I  was  chosen  agent  for  this  asso- 
ciation," he  wrote,  "  for  the  purpose  of  doing  the  best 
I  could  to  aid  the  workmen  in  securing  justice.  I  did 
not  force  myself  on  the  men ;  they  urged  me  to  take 
the  office ;  and,  as  soon  as  thc}^  can  dispense  with  my 
services,  I  am  prepared  to  resign.  But  so  long  as  I  am 
in  oflflce  I  will  do  my  best  to  serve  my  emploj^ers. 
Four  months  since  I  was  a  hewer  at  Choppington  Col- 
liery. As  a  working-man  I  was  in  comfortable  circum- 
stances, serving  employers  whom  I  respected,  and  who, 
I  believe,  respected  me.  I  had  been  at  that  colliery 
nearly  six  years,  and  during  that  time  I  had  never  a 
wrong  word  with  an  ofl[icial  of  the  coUierj'.  '  A  Coal- 
owner  '  may  ask  there  whether  I  was  a  '  demagogue  '  or 
an  '  agitator.'  I  left  the  coUierj'^  honorably,  and  I  have 
no  doubt  I  can  get  my  work  again  at  that  place  if  I 
want  it.  If  not,  I  can  get  work,  I  doubt  not,  else- 
where, and  under  good  employers  too  ;  forT  long  since 
made  up  my  mind  not  to  work  for  a  tyrant.  I  say  this 
merely  to  let  3'oiu:  readers  know  that  the  position  1  hold 
is  not  degrading  either  to  myself  or  the  men  who  em- 
ploy me." 

Largely  as  the  result  of  this  rare  combination  of 
moderation  and  firmness  on  the  part  of  the  secretary, 
external  aid  flowed  freely  into  the  coffers  of  the  asso- 
ciation. When  the  strike  ended,  a  surplus  of  thirty- 
five  hundred  dollars  remained  over. 


112       EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

By  Mr.  Burt's  advice  this  sum,  instead  of  being 
divided  among  the  several  collieries  in  the  union,  was 
made  the  nucleus  of  a  central  fund,  which  in  a  few 
years  increased  to  eighty  thousand  dollars,  while  the 
membership  of  the  union  was  quadrupled. 

Though  in  Parliament,  Mr.  Burt  is  still  the  adviser- 
general  and  appellant-judge  of  the  association,  whose 
solidarit}^  and  wise  counsels  have  done  so  much  to 
inspire  both  eraplo^-ers  and  employed  in  Northumber- 
land with  feelings  of  amit}^  and  mutual  respect. 
Recentl}'  there  has  been  a  sensible  decline  in  the  mem- 
bership of  the  union,  owing  chiefly  to  the  wholesale 
depopulation  of  certain  districts  consequent  on  the  pro- 
longed depression  of  trade  and  the  enforced  stoppage  of 
the  less  remunerative  pits.  Within  the  last  three  and 
a  half  3'ears  the  miners  of  Northumberland,  to  their 
credit  be  it  recorded,  have  expended  nearly  cight^^-five 
thousand  dollars  in  support  of  brethi-en  thus  thi'own 
out  of  emplojonent.  Indeed,  that  they  should  have 
hitherto  been  able  to  face  the  crisis  so  manfully  and 
efficiently  can  only  be  regarded  as  another  miracle  of 
thrift  and  self-sacrifice  worthy  of  the  men  who,  by 
returning  Mr.  Burt  to  Parliament  as  their  ' '  paid  mem- 
ber," were  the  pioneers  of  one  of  the  most  necessary 
and  important  political  reforms  of  the  future. 

The  circumstances  attending  the  return  of  the  mem- 
ber for  Morpeth  to  Paiiiament  have  never  yet  received 
the  general  attention  and  commendation  they  deserve. 
They  were  most  remarkable.  Two  pitmen,  Mr.  Robert 
Elliot  (a  poet  of  no  mean  merit)  and  Mr.  Thomas 
Glassej',  along  with  two  brothers,  Drs.  James  and 
Robert  Trotter,  local  medical  practitioners,  did  the 
heaviest  portion  of  the  electioneering,  which,  at  the 


THOMAS   BURT.  113 

height  of  the  Toiy  re-action,  resulted  in  3,332  votes 
being  recorded  for  Mr.  Burt,  against  585  for  his  amiable 
Tory  opponent,  Major  Duncan.  Never  was  there  such 
unbounded  enthusiasm.  The  prophet  of  Choppington 
was  indeed  honored  in  his  own  country.  His  election 
expenses  were  defrayed  by  public  subscription.  He  had 
nothing  to  do  but  address  the  electors,  and  prepare  to 
draw  his  parliamentary  salary,  which,  if  not  large,  ia 
perhaps  amply  sufficient  for  his  modest  wants  and 
limited  desires.  At  the  late  general  election  the  Con- 
servatives dared  not  even  challenge  his  seat. 

Well  may  Morpeth,  the  borough  of  the  derided 
"  Ilowkies,"  with  their  short  lives,  —  computed  to 
reach  an  average  of  onlj-  twenty-eight  years, — their 
sore  toil  and  pitiable  pay,  say  to  the  most  virtuous  con- 
stituency in  the  kingdom,  "Go  thou  and  do  likewise." 

"  Go  on  until  this  land  revokes 
The  old  and  chartered  He, 
The  feudal  curse  whose  whips  and  yokes 
Insult  humanity." 

And,  as  for  the  fortunate  member  for  Morpeth,  he 
has  in  Parliament,  I  think,  redeemed  all  the  legitimate 
expectations  that  were  formed  of  him.  His  speeches 
on  the  County  Franchise  BQl,  on  the  Employers'  Liabil- 
ity for  Injury  Bill,  on  the  grants  to  Wales  and  Con- 
naught,  and,  above  all,  his  hearty  denunciation  of  the 
Afghan  war,  leave  nothing  to  be  desired. 

With  regard  to  the  Medical  Bill,  he  showed  somewhat 
too  great  a  confidence  in  quack  doctors  and  unlicensed 
bone-setters  ;  but  that  is  a  small  matter. 

For  the  rest,  as  I  have  said  before,  his  conduct  in  the 
House  has  evoked  the  praise  of  all  parties.     The  worst 


114       EMINENT  LIBEEALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

of  Tories  admit  that  he  is  "  fair,"  and  herein  perhaps 
lurks  a  danger  for  the  member  for  Morpeth.  Kefonners 
of  great  wrongs  cannot  afford  to  cultivate  this  spirit  of 
fairness  to  excess.  Be  fair,  be  fair,  be  not  too  fair ! 
"  Beware  ye  when  all  men  speak  well  of  you,  for  so  did 
they  of  the  false  prophets  that  were  before  you." 


X. 

HENRY  RICHARD. 

"  And  evermore  beside  him  on  his  way 
The  unseen  Christ  shall  move." 

IN  the  House  of  Commons  are  to  be  found  a  good 
many  members  who  profess  the  Christian  religion,  — 
at  all  events  in  public ;  but,  excepting  Mr.  Henry- 
Richard,  there  are  very  few,  so  far  as  I  know,  who 
make  the  smallest  pretence  of  literally  squaring  their 
politics  by  the  precepts  of  the  New  Testament.  The 
politics  of  Rome  and  of  Canterbury  —  of  the  Papal 
and  Anglican  priesthoods  —  are,  of  course,  well  repre- 
sented at  St.  Stephen's  ;  but  their  relation  to  Christianity 
proper  is  so  remote,  or  indeed  antagonistic,  as  to  merit 
no  recognition  in  this  connection.  They  are  merely 
ecclesiastical  intrigues,  and  in  no  true  sense  Christian 
or  even  religious  in  their  aim  or  tendency.  But  Mr. 
Richard's  position  is  diiferent.  He  is  distinctly  a  Chris- 
tian politician,  and  herein  lies  his  strength  or  weakness 
as  a  legislator.  The  estimable  "Apostle  of  Peace" 
is,  wonderful  to  relate,  a  gospel  Radical,  and  it  is  by 
that  difficult  standard  that  it  will  be  necessary  in  some 
measure  to  try  him.  He  believes  that  Christianity  sup- 
plies the  politician,  as  it  does  the  individual,  with  a  true, 
or  rather  the  true,  conduct-chart;  and  his  pamphlet, 
"  On  the  Application  of  Christianity  to  Politics,"  leaves 

115 


116       EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

US  in  no  doubt  as  to  his  canons  of  biblical  interpreta- 
tion. 

"  I  have  no  hope,"  he  tells  us,  "  for  the  future  of 
this  world  that  is  not  connected  with  Christianity." 
When  "every  thought  shall  have  been  brought  into 
captivity  to  the  obedience  of  Christ,"  then  only  will 
Mr.  Richard  feel  satisfied  that  we  are  politically  on  the 
right  rail.  There  are  not  two  moralities,  he  maintains, 
—  a  private  and  a  public,  a  personal  and  a  political. 
Mr.  Richard' s  method  with  the  Jingoes  is  the  shortest 
of  any.  Is  it  not  written,  "Thou  shalt  not  kill"? 
Therefore  is  the  occupation  of  the  soldier  forever  cursed, 
cursing  alike  conqueror  and  conquered.  According  to 
this  exegesis,  such  gallant  Christians  as  Sir  Henry 
Havelock  and  Capt.  Hedley  Vicars  of  pious  memory 
were  little  better  than  public  cut-throats  or  licensed 
murderers.  So  be  it.  Mr.  Richard  will  shrink  from 
none  of  the  consequences  of  his  understanding  of  Holy 
Writ.  The  commandment  is  absolute.  "Avenge  not 
yourselves,  but  rather  give  place  unto  wrath  ;  for  it  is 
written,  Vengeance  is  mine,  I  wiU  repay,  saith  the 
Lord."  "Resist  not  evil."  "See  that  none  render 
evil  for  evil  unto  any  man,  but  ever  follow  that  which 
is  good,  both  among  3'ourselves  and  to  all  men."  "  If 
ye  do  well  and  suffer  for  it,  and  ye  take  it  patiently, 
this  is  acceptable  unto  God." 

These  are  hard  words  for  flesh  and  blood  to  apply 
literally;  but  Mr.  Richard,  in  his  "Defensive  War," 
makes  it  plain  that  he  wiU,  no  more  than  Hosea  Biglow, 
admit  of  any  dodging :  — 

"If  ye  take  a  sword  and  dror  it, 
And  go  stick  a  feller  through, 
Guv'ment  ain't  to  answer  for  it: 
God  will  send  the  bill  to  you." 


HENRY  RICHARD.  117 

If  a  robber  assail  you  with  murderous  intent,  there  are 
"  three  courses  "  open  to  you.  You  may  expostulate 
with  him  on  the  error  of  his  ways  ;  you  may  exert  mod- 
erate force  to  restrain  him  from  burdening  his  soul  with 
a  great  crime  ;  and,  lastly,  you  may  exhibit  true  moral 
courage  by  running  away  as  fast  as  ever  your  legs  will 
carry  you :  but  on  no  account  are  you  to  lay  the  flatter- 
ing unction  to  your  soul  that,  under  any  circumstances, 
is  there  such  a  thing  as  "justifiable  homicide  "  possible. 
Similarly  with  regard  to  other  questions  of  vital  public 
interest,  —  such  as  the  support  of  religion  by  state, 
whether  in  church  or  school,  —  the  member  for  Merthjr 
finds  something  like  absolute  prohibitions  where  the 
great  majority  of  professing  Christians  appear  to  dis- 
cover the  reverse. 

How  wonderful  is  Mr.  Richard  in  his  exegesis ! 
How  wonderful  are  the  majority  of  Christians  in  theirs  ! 
How  marvellously  malleable  are  the  memorials  of  the 
Christian  faith  themselves !  Humanly  speaking,  one 
would  say  some  of  them  must  be  at  fault,  but  which,  I 
am  pleased  to  think,  it  is  not  my  province  to  determine. 
Infidel  Radicals  are,  in  these  days  of  general  apostas3% 
as  thick  as* blackberries.  It  is  refreshing  occasionally  — 
for  the  sake  of  variety,  if  for  nothing  else  —  to  encounter 
one  who  is  thoroughly  orthodox.  "  The  stone  which 
the  builders  rejected,  the  same  is  become  the  head  of 
the  corner."  Nor  am  I  unmindful  of  the  warning, 
"  And  whosoever  shall  fall  on  this  stone  shall  be 
broken ;  but  on  whomsoever  it  shall  fall  it  will  grind 
him  to  powder."  Suffice  it  for  my  purpose  to  postu- 
late that  Mr.  Richard  is  as  good  a  Radical  as  he  is  a 
Christian,  and  that  with  him  the  terms  are  in  a  great 
measure  convertible.     May  Heaven  multiply  this  par- 


118       EMINENT   LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

ticular  school  of  Christians  !  for  never  were  they  more 
sorely  needed  than  at  present. 

"  Keep  thou  the  childlike  heart 
That  shall  His  kingdom  be ; 
The  soul  pure-eyed  that  wisdom-led 
E'en  now  His  blessed  face  shall  see." 

Henry  Richard,  M.P.,  was  bom  at  the  little  town 
of  Tregaron,  Cardiganshire,  in  1812.  The  locality  is 
peculiarly  JVelsh  in  all  its  aspects  ;  and  the  ' '  member 
for  Wales  "  is,  as  is  befitting,  of  pure  Welsh  descent, 
his  mother's  maiden  name  having  been  Williams.  His 
father  and  grandfather  were  both  ministers  of  the 
Calvinistic  Methodist  persuasion,  the  latter  for  the  long 
space  of  sixty  years.  In  one  of  his  addresses  to  his 
constituents  at  MerthjT,  Mr.  Richard  told  them,  with 
manifest  pride,  "that  he  had  come  of  a  good  stock, 
who  had  served  Wales  well  in  daj's  gone  by."  And 
so  it  was.  His  father,  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Richard  of 
Tregaron,  was  no  ordinary  man.  Welshmen,  even 
more  than  Scotsmen,  appear  to  benefit  by  the  kind  of 
instruction  which  is  conveyed  in  "sermons;"  and 
Richard,  senior,  was  a  powerful  preacher,  the  memory 
of  whose  pulpit  oratory  is  still  cherished  in  South 
Wales.  Nor  was  he  prominent  only  in  spiritual  things. 
For  many  years  he  was  general  secretary  to  his  denom- 
ination :  and,  along  with  the  Rev.  Thomas  Charles  of 
Bala,  he  conferred  on  the  principality  what  was  at  the 
time  an  inestimable  boon;  viz.,  a  thoroughly  compre- 
hensive sj'stem  of  Sunday-school  education,  which  had 
regard  to  the  wants  of  adults  as  well  as  of  juveniles. 

His  home  at  Tregaron  was  the  rallying-point  of 
much  of  the  religious  and  philanthropic  activity  of 


HENRY   RICHARD.  119 

South  Wales.  The  chief  actors  concerned  believed, 
and  not  without  reason,  that  they  were  engaged  in  a 
work  no  less  momentous  than  the  regeneration  of  the 
principality  ;  and  their  earnestness,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  made  an  indelible  impression  on  the  open 
mind  of  young  Richard,  whose  earliest  memories  are 
of  fervent  "revivals,"  "seasons  of  refreshing,"  «fec. 

From  the  doctrines  imbibed  in  his  childhood  he  has 
never  appreciably  departed ;  j^et  the  tenacity  with 
which  he  sticks  to  his  creed  is  not  to  be  confounded 
with  bigotry.  In  the  sphere  of  civil  action  there  is  not 
in  all  England  a  more  enlightened  advocate  of  the 
broadest  freedom. "  His  human  sj'mpathies  are  as  gen- 
erous and  keen  as  they  were  fifty  years  ago.  In  his 
case  there  has  been  none  of  that  — 

"  Hardening  of  the  heart  that  brings 
Irreverence  for  the  dreams  of  youth," 

such  as,  I  am  bound  to  say,  it  has  been  mine  to  observe 
in  but  too  many  victims  of  early  Calvinistic  training. 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  his  education  was 
altogether  of  a  religious  complexion.  At  an  earlv  age 
he  was  sent  to  Llangeltho  Grammar  School,  and  sub- 
sequently, when  eighteen,  he  became  a  student  of  the 
Highbury  Independent  College,  London,  the  Calvinistic 
Methodists  having  then  no  theological  school  of  their 
own.  At  both  places  the  instruction  was  sound  so  far 
as  it  went ;  and  Eichard,  as  was  to  be  expected  from  a 
youth  of  his  conscientious  disposition,  did  not  fail  fully 
to  avail  himself  of  his  opportunities.  At  the  close  of 
his  theological  curriculum  he  joined  the  Independent 
Communion,  and  became  minister  of  Marlborough 
Chapel,  Old  Kent  Road.     The  congregation  was  mori- 


120       EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

bund ;  but  the  Rev.  Henry  Richard  was  equal  to  the 
occasion.  In  a  short  time  the  attendance  greatly  in- 
creased, a  considerable  debt  was  paid  off,  schools  were 
built,  and  a  literarj'  institute  was  established. 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  Mr.  Richard  found 
a  wider  field  for  his  talent,  and  perhaps  a  truer  vocation. 
In  1843  occurred  in  Cardiganshu-e  and  Carmarthenshire 
what  were  known  as  the  "  Rebecca  Riots.' '  The  Welsh 
roads  were  then  encumbered  with  turnpike-gates  to  an 
unendurable  extent ;  and  some  of  the  younger  men 
among  the  tenant  farmers,  despairing  of  relief  by  more 
legitimate  means,  had  recourse  to  nocturnal  acts  of 
demolition.  The  principality  was  ovenvhelmed  with 
obloquy  in  consequence ;  and  but  for  the  courageous 
stand  taken  by  Mr.  Richai'd,  who  publicly  explained  the 
origin  and  narrow  limits  of  the  disturbances,  there  is  no 
saying  to  what  foolish  acts  of  repression  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  day  might  not  have  been  induced  by  the 
panic-stricken  magistracy  to  have  recourse.  But  the 
matter  did  not  end  with  the  Rebecca  Riots.  In  1846  a 
government  commission  was  sent  into  Wales  to  inquire 
into  the  state  of  education  in  the  principality.  The 
commissioners'  report  duly  appeared  in  three  foi-midable 
volumes,  formidable  alike  for  their  contents  and  size. 
The  Welsh  were  deliberately  described  as  the  most 
debased,  ignorant,  lewd,  and  vicious  people  under  the 
sun.  The  misrepresentation,  it  cannot  be  doubted,  was 
most  vile.  Something  like  a  wail  of  anguish  broke 
from  the  heart  of  the  ancient  CjTnric  race.  The  com- 
missioners had  apparentlj'  listened  to  nothing  but  the 
calumnies  poured  into  their  ears  by  territorial  justices 
of  the  peace  and  Anglican  parsons  with  empty  churches. 

Again  Mr.  Richard  came  forward  as  the  champion  of 


HENRY  RICHARD.  121 

his  slandered  countrymen ;  and  in  a  masterly  lecture, 
which  he  delivered  in  Crosby  Hall  in  the  spring  of  1848, 
he  vindicated  the  character  of  the  Welsh  people,  and 
succeeded  in  a  great  measure  in  rolling  back  the  rising 
tide  of  English  prejudice  and  calumny.  Further,  in 
1866,  Mr.  Richard  contributed  to  "  The  Morning  Star  " 
an  exhaujitive  series  of  letters  on  the  "  Social  and  Po- 
litical Condition  of  Wales,"  the  value  of  which  Mr. 
Gladstone  thus  handsomely  acknowledged  in  the  speech 
which  he  delivered  as  president  of  the  national  Eistedd- 
fod, held  at  Mold  in  1873  :  "I  will  frankly  own  to  you 
that  I  have  shared  at  a  former  time,  and  before  I  had 
acquainted  myself  with  the  subject,  the  prejudices  which 
obtain  to  some  extent  with  respect  to  Wales  ;  and  I  am 
come  here  to  tell  )'ou  how  and  why  I  changed  my  opin- 
ion. It  is  only  fair  that  I  should  say  that  a  countrj'man 
of  yours  —  a  most  excellent  AYelshman,  Mr.  Richard, 
M.P.  — did  a  great  deal  to  open  mj""  eyes  to  the  true  state 
of  the  facts  by  a  series  of  letters  which,  some  years  ago, 
he  addressed  to  a  morning  journal,  and  subsequently 
published  in  a  small  volume,  which  I  recommend  to  all 
persons  who  may  be  interested  in  the  subject." 

Not  without  reason  has  Mr.  Richard  been  dubbed 
"member  for  Wales."  He  incarnates  all  the  best 
characteristics  of  his  race.  If  he  is  trusted  as  a  good 
Welshman,  he  is  none  the  less  so  as  a  stanch  Noncon- 
fonnist.  Welshmen  are  born  Dissenters,  and  it  is 
natural  that  they  should  follow  Mr.  Richard  in  such 
matters ;  but  it  is  a  higher  compliment  to  him  to  say 
that  the  confidence  of  his  countrymen  is  heartily'  in- 
dorsed by  the  whole  body  of  English  and  Scottish 
Nonconformists.  There  is  not  a  better  representative 
Nonconformist    in    ParUament  than  the  member  for 


122       EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

IMerthyr.  His  opposition  to  the  obnoxious  clauses  of 
the  Education  Act  of  1870  was  as  heartj'  as  that  of  the 
most  pronounced  "  Secularist "  in  the  House,  and  went 
a  long  way  to  prove  that  Christianity'  properly  under- 
stood and  applied  to  politics  means  something  far  other 
than  priestcraft  and  obscurantism.  The  member  for 
MerthjT  spoke  with  all  the  more  authority,  that  for 
years  he  had  been  one  of  the  most  active  promoters  of 
popular  education  in  Wales.  He  was  one  of  the  first 
members  of  the  Congregational  Board  of  PMucation ; 
and,  when  that  body  ultimatel}'  showed  too  strong  a 
partiality  for  denominational  interests,  he  joined  the 
Voluntary"  School  Association,  founded  on  a  broader 
and  more  unsectarian  basis  ;  and  during  the  whole  sub- 
sequent period  of  its  useful  existence  he  was  its  honor- 
ary secretary,  travelling,  speaking,  and  writing  on  its 
behalf,  and  taking  an  active  part  in  the  establishment 
and  control  of  its  normal  schools. 

It  is,  however,  neither  as  Welshman,  Nonconformist, 
nor  educationist  that  Mr.  Richard's  name  is  destined 
to  go  down  with  honor  to  remote  posterity.  It  is  as 
the  strenuous  advocate  of  peace  that  he  will  be  entitled 
to  lasting  remembrance.  In  1848  he  was  appointed 
secretary,  of  the  Peace  Society  ;  and  in  1851  he  finally 
abandoned  the  ministry  in  order  to  devote  himself  soul 
and  body  to  the  good  cause.  He  felt  that  it  was  not 
enough  to  denounce  the  blood-guiltiness  of  war.  Wars 
are  but  barbai'ous  methods  of  settling  international  dis- 
putes. Let  us  urge  on  "sovereigns  and  statesmen," 
he  reasoned,  "  a  better  wa}', — one  at  least  not  a  dis- 
grace to  civilization  and  Christianity.  Let  us  boldly 
bring  forward  in  the  legislature  a  resolution  in  favor  of 
arbitration  as  a  substitute  for  the  sword.' '     In  1848  Mr. 


HENRY  EICHARD.  123 

Cobden  was  appealed  to,  and  assented  to  become  the 
standard-bearer  of  the  Peace  Society  ;  and  to  his  intense 
gi-atification  tlie  resolution  which  he  moved  the  following 
session  was  supported  by  no  fewer  than  seventy-nine 
votes. 

On  the  continent,  likewise,  the  work  went  bravely 
forward.  From  1848  to  1852  International  Peace 
Congresses,  promoted  by  Mr.  Richard  and  Mr.  Elihu 
Burritt,  were  held  at  Brussels,  Paris,  Frankfort,  Lon- 
don, Manchester,  and  Edinburgh.  The  Paris  Congress 
was  presided  over  by  Victor  Hugo,  while  the  London 
Conference  was  attended  by  Garrison,  Phillips,  Lucre- 
tia  Mott,  and  other  distinguished  Americans.  Bright, 
Lamartine,  Arago,  Humboldt,  Liebig,  Suringar,  Coquer- 
el,  Brewster,  Cormentin,  Girardin,  Beckwith,  Garnier, 
and  many  other  illustrious  persons,  were  among  the 
foremost  advocates  of  the  movement.  But  "  Messieurs 
les  Assassins  ' '  were  not  prepared  to  let  slip  their  bloody 
pastime  so  easily.  Louis  Napoleon  perpetrated  his  exe- 
crable coup  d'etat,  and  the  war-spirit  was  again  evoked 
with  fourfold  violence.  The  Crimean  war  followed,  and 
the  exertions  of  Mr.  Richard  and  the  Peace  Society 
were  perfectly  paral^'zed.  The  press  ridiculed  them: 
they  became  a  byword. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  in  1856,  when  the  plenipoten- 
tiaries were  sitting  in  congress  at  Paris,  negotiating 
terms  of  peace,  it  occurred  to  Mr.  Richard  and  his 
friends  that  an  effort  ought  to  be  made  to  get  the  prin- 
ciple of  arbitration  recognized  in  the  treaty.  Lord 
Palmerston  was  seen  bj^  an  influential  deputation,  but 
held  out  no  hope.  Still  Mr.  Richard  persevered.  No 
one,  however,  could  be  induced  to  accompany-  him  to 
Paris.      At  last  he  addressed  himself  to  the  guileless 


124       EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PABLIAMENT. 

Quaker,  Joseph  Sturge.  "Thou  art  right,"  was  the 
instant  reply  ;  "and,  if  no  one  will  go  with  thee,  I  will." 
They  started  accordingl}',  along  with  Mr.  Hindley,  the 
member  for  Ashton,  and  their  faith  was  rewarded. 
Lord  Clarendon  earnestl}^  pleaded  their  cause  with  the 
plenipotentiaries,  who  unanimously  declared  in  favor  of 
recourse  being  had  to  the  good  offices  of  some  friendly 
power  before  any  appeal  should  be  made  to  the  arbitra- 
ment of  the  sword. 

This  formal  sanction  given  to  the  principle  of  inter- 
national arbitration  has  not  been  wholly  inoperative. 
In  the  settlement  of  the  Alabama  claims,  England  and 
America  set  a  memorable  example  of  moderation  and 
good  sense  to  the  entire  family  of  nations,  —  an  exam- 
ple, alas  !  which  has  since  then  been  but  too  seldom  im- 
itated. For  why  ?  Something  more  must  be  done  to 
restrain  the  illimitable  horrors  of  war  than  to  provide  a 
feeble  substitute  for  multitudinous  homicide  after  the 
causes  have  come  to  a  head.  The  causes  must  them- 
selves be  eliminated.  Could  arbitration  ever  restrain  a 
Napoleonic  coup  d'etat,  or  influence  for  a  moment  such 
dynastic  exigencies  and  ambitions  as  brought  France 
and  Germany  into  their  last  tenible  death-grapple? 
The  French  and  German  peoples  had  no  quarrel  with 
each  other.  The  quarrel  was  entirely  one  between  their 
rulers,  supported  by  the  governing  oligarchy  of  the  two 
countries.  In  the  same  way  the  English  people  have 
had  no  cause  of  discontent  with  the  poor  Afghans  or 
Zulus. 

War  is  wholly  the  work  —  the  infamous  work  —  of 
"sovereigns  and  statesmen."  Sovereigns  must  have 
wars.  However  peaceful  their  professions,  they  have  a 
direct  and  overwhelming  interest  in  the  maintenance  of 


HENRY  RICHARD.  125 

division  and  discord  among  nations.  Were  it  not  for 
wars,  the  occupation  of  kings  would  be  gone,  and  the 
credit  of  the  kingly  form  of  government  would  sink  to 
zero.  In  other  words,  Europe  must  become  a  feder- 
ated, self-governing  republic,  before  the  world  can  hope 
to  attain  to  a  permanent  peace.  UntU  the  people  are 
sovereign,  until  the  "United  States  of  Europe"  have 
been  established,  "the  ogre  of  war,"  as  Bastiat  has 
well  said,  "will  cost  as  much  for  his  digestion  as  for 
his  meals."  Till  democracy  has  in  every  state  put 
down  all  her  enemies  under  her  feet,  there  cannot,  in 
the  nature  of  things,  be  any  genuine  disarmament. 

Let  Mr.  Richard  ponder  this  matter,  and  prepare  to 
deal  less  gently  than  he  has  been  in  the  habit  of  doing 
with  the  causes  of  war,  —  with  the  aforesaid  sovereigns 
and  statesmen.  Does  he  want  a  text  to  warrant  him  in 
seeking  to  rid  the  world  of  these  illustrious  vultures? 
Here  is  one  that  ought  to  suit  him:  "Ye  know  that 
they  which  are  accounted  to  rule  over  the  Gentiles  ex- 
ercise lordship  over  them,  and  their  ^-eat  ones  exercise 
authority  upon  them.  But  so  shall  it  not  be  among 
you ;  but  whosoever  will  be  great  among  you  shall  be 
your  minister.  And  whosoever  shall  be  the  chiefest 
shall  be  the  servant  of  all." 

They  who  exercise  lordship  over  us  tell  us  of  patriot- 
ism. What  is  patriotism?  I  have  seen  some  of  the 
votaries  of  the  patriotic  goddess  at  their  devotions.  I 
witnessed  the  loathsome  exploits  of  the  Hjde  Park  Jin- 
goes, and  I  saw  the  Cannon-street  Hotel  sacked  by  the 
unconvicted  thieves  of  the  Stock  Exchange.  I  have 
had  enough  of  patriotism  for  a  lifetime.  I  agree  with 
Dr.  Johnson  that  ' '  patriotism  is  the  last  refuge  of  the 
scoundrel."     There  is  but  one  fatherland,  —  the  world ; 


126        EMINENT  LIBEEALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

and  one  body  of  countrjonen,  —  the  human  race.  I 
know  of  but  one  patriotism,  that  of  the  ancient  Ro- 
man, —  "  Ubi  bona  ibi  patria."  Instead  of  a  blessing, 
it  is  often  a  misfortune,  to  have  been  born  in  a  particular 
locality  or  country. 

"  In  what  land  the  sun  doth  visit, 
We  are  brisk  whate'er  betide; 
To  give  space  for  wandering  is  it 
That  the  world  was  made  so  wide." 

Mr.  Richard  first  entered  Parliament  for  Merthyr  in 
1868  under  the  most  honorable  circumstances.  Nearly 
the  whole  of  the  available  suffrages  were  recorded  for 
him,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Bruce  (now  Lord  Aberdare)  and 
Mr.  Fothergill  dividing  the  second  votes  between  them. 
The  Welsh  landlords  never  received  so  sharp  a  lesson. 
They  retaliated  by  evicting  some  two  hundred  of  Mr. 
Richard's  supporters.  He  shortly  impeached  the  trans- 
gressors in  one  of  the  boldest  speeches  that  had  been 
heard  at  St.  Stephen's  for  a  very  long  time,  and  his 
fearless  exposure  of  the  delinquents  had  not  a  little  to 
do  with  the  passing  of  the  Ballot  Act. 

In  1873  occurred  perhaps  the  greatest  triumph  of  his 
life.  He  proposed  an  address  to  her  Majesty,  praying 
that  she  would  instruct  the  Secretary  of  State  for  For- 
eign Affairs  "  to  enter  into  communication  with  foreign 
powers  with  a  view  to  the  establishment  of  a  general 
and  permanent  system  of  international  arbitration." 
Mr.  Gladstone  opposed  the  motion ;  but  the  Govern- 
ment was  beaten  by  a  majority  of  ten  in  a  house  of 
nearl}'  two  hundred  members.  Addresses  of  congratu- 
lation poured  in  on  Mr.  Richard  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  —  one  from  Italy  being  headed  by  Gen.  Gari- 


HENRY  RICHARD.  127 

baldi.  Charles  Sumner  wrote  from  the  Senate  House 
at  Washington,  "  It  marks  an  epoch  in  a  great  cause. 
This  speech  alone,  with  the  signal  result,  wiU  make  your 
life  historic." 

In  the  following  September  he  visited  nearly  aU  the 
capitals  and  many  of  the  chief  cities  of  the  continent. 
Everywhere  he  was  received  with  open  arms,  and  hailed 
as  a  sort  of  "  saviour  of  society."  More  eloquent 
testimony  to  the  unbearableness  of  the  military  yoke, 
beneath  which  the  nations  of  the  continent  are  groan- 
ing, could  not  have  been.  His  progress  was  converted 
by  the  grateful  multitudes  into  something  like  a  tri- 
iraiph  in  honor  of  the  herald  of  that  better  time  which 
shall  be  — 

"  When  the  war-drums  throb  no  longer. 
And  the  battle-flags  are  furled, 
In  the  Parliament  of  Man, 
The  Federation  of  the  World." 


XI. 

LEONARD  HENRY  COURTNEY. 

"  Can  rules  or  tutors  educate 
The  democrat  •whom  we  await  ?  " 

IN  Mr.  Thomas  Burt,  the  member  for  Morpeth,  we 
had  an  excellent  example  of  what  the  mine  and  the 
trades-union  can  do  to  form  the  mind  and  character  of  a 
legislator.  Similarly,  in  Mr.  Leonard  Henry  Court- 
ney, member  for  Liskeard,  we  have  an  equally  perfect 
sample  of  what  an  institution  so  far  removed  from  the 
mine  as  the  university,  working  at  high  pressure,  can 
effect. 

Mr.  Courtney  has  been  but  a  short  time  in  Parlia- 
ment, and  I  feel  that  it  is  consequently  somewhat  pre- 
mature to  take  his  political  horoscope.  He,  however, 
entered  the  House  so  exceptionally  well  equipped  for 
the  discharge  of  his  legislative  duties,  and  has  on  the 
whole  executed  them  so  efficiently,  that  his  claims  to 
recognition  as  an  eminent  Radical  cannot  be  over- 
looked. He  is,  beyond  all  question,  a  very  able  man, 
whatever  his  critics  in  or  out  of  the  House  may  say  to 
the  contrary  ;  and,  among  the  younger  members  of  the 
Commons,  I  know  no  one  whose  future  conduct  will  be 
better  worth  watching.  He  is  one  regarding  whom  it 
may  be  safely  predicted,  that,  to  use  a  Scotch  proverb, 
he  will  speedily  "  either  make  a  spoon  or  spoil  a  horn." 
128 


LEONARD   HENRY  COURTNEY.  129 

His  detractors  say  that  he  has  akeady  spoiled  the  horn, 
chiefly  by  want  of  tact. 

He  is  accused  of  the  unpardonable  parliamentary 
offence  of  "  lecturing  "  the  House,  instead  of  address- 
ing it ;  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  charge  is  not 
wholly  groundless.  Even  those  who  are  discerning 
enough  to  recognize  his  rare  intellectual  accomplish- 
ments and  powers  of  close  reasoning  cannot  endure  this 
sort  of  thing.  It  is  in  human  nature  in  such  circum- 
stances to  call  out  — 

"  If  thou  art  great,  be  merciful, 
O  woman  of  three  cows! " 

In  the  debate  on  Mr.  Trevelyan's  motion  in  favor  of 
the  county  franchise,  the  member  for  Liskeard  told  the 
House,  with  verj-  little  circumlocution,  that  it  had  de- 
generated, and  that  the  members  generally  were  no- 
bodies. The  inference,  of  course,  was  unavoidable 
that  the  speaker  was  somebody.  Well,  I  readily  admit 
both  proposition  and  deduction,  but  "  hold  it  not  hon- 
esty to  have  it  thus  set  down."  The  great  majority  of 
Mr,  Courtney's  colleagues,  it  is  true,  are  mere  rule-of- 
thumb  legislators,,  whereas  his  knowledge  of  politics  is, 
by  comparison,  scientific.  But  the  uninstructed  are 
there  to  be  persuaded,  "  educated  "  if  you  will,  by  the 
better  disciplined  intellects  ;  and  there  is  no  surer  test 
of  genuine  culture  than  the  habitual  exhibition  of  a 
tender  regard  for  the  feelings  .of  the  ignorant.  Not 
that  Mr.  Courtney  means  it  in  the  least.  He  is  as  little 
of  a  prig  as  any  man  I  ever  met,  —  a  downright  hearty 
good  fellow,  as  true  as  steel  to  his  convictions  of  what 
is  for  the  public  good,  and  without  any  fundamental 
egotism  of  character.     In  private  he  has  not  a  particle 


130       EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLLAJMENT. 

of  the  "  professor  "  about  him  ;  and,  as  this  fact  comes 
to  be  commonly  recognized,  it  may  be  hoped  the 
memory  of  his  public  forwardness  wUl  be  effaced,  and 
full  justice  done  to  his  remarkable  acquirements  and 
good  intentions. 

Mr.  Courtney,  M.P.,  was  bom  at  Penzance  in  July, 
1832.  His  father,  John  Sampson  Courtney  of  Alver- 
ton  House,  was  a  native  of  Ilfracombe,  where  his 
ancestors  had  been  settled  for  two  hundred  years  at 
least.  Courtney,  senior,  early  in  life  took  to  banking, 
and  has  for  half  a  century  been  connected  with  the  firm 
of  Bolitho,  Sons,  &  Co.,  bankers,  Penzance. 

At  an  early  age  young  Courtney  was  sent  to  the 
Regent  House  Academy,  the  chief  school  in  the  neigh- 
borhood ;  and  from  the  first  he  displayed  conspicuous 
talent.  Latterly  his  studies  were  superintended  by  Dr. 
Willan,  a  private  tutor.  Then  for  a  short  time  he  was 
employed  in  the  bank  of  Messrs.  Bolitho,  Sons,  &  Co. ; 
but  finally,  in  his  nineteenth  year,  it  was  recognized 
that  a  university  career  would  best  suit  his  strong  love 
of  study  and  remarkable  powers  of  application.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  1851,  he  was  entered  as  a  student  of  St. 
John's  CoUege,  Cambridge  ;  and  in  1855  he  graduated 
with  honors  which  speak  volumes  in  themselves.  He 
was  second  wrangler  and  Smith's  prizeman. 

Needless  to  say,  such  honorable  achievements  were 
not  long  without  their  reward.  He  became  a  fellow  of 
his  college,  and  was  «peedily  immersed  in  lucrative 
private  tuition.  His  preliminary  training  had  not  been 
specially  adapted  to  secure  him  such  distinctions,  and 
it  is,  therefore,  impossible  to  withhold  our  admiration 
for  the  vigor  of  mind  and  body  which  enabled  him  to 
triumph  so  signally. 


LEONAED   HENEY  COTJETNET.  131 

How  far  marked  aptitude  for  mathematical  studies  is 
indicative  of  general  intellectual  superiority  has,  been 
the  subject  of  much  controversy.  Lord  Macaulay  kept 
an  exhaustive  catalogue  of  senior  wranglers  who  always 
remained  juniors  in  every  thing  but  mathematics,  and 
Sir  William  Hamilton  estimated  the  disciplinary  value 
of  the  study  at  a  very  low  rate.  The  truth,  however, 
seems  to  be  that  the  gift  or  knack  which  enables  one 
man  to  manipulate  algebraic  quantities  so  much  more 
readily  than  another  may  or  may  not  co-exist  in  the 
mind  with  other,  it  may  be,  greater  endowments.  One 
thing  only  is  very  certain,  — the  process  of  intense  ratio- 
cinative  specialization,  to  which  wranglers  must  neces- 
sarily subject  themselves,  cannot  fail  to  seriously  dwarf 
their  other  faculties.  Off  their  special  topics  the  writ- 
ings of  great  mathematicians  have  nearly  always  struck 
me  as  peculiarly  bloodless  and  uninteresting,  and  it  is 
no  small  praise  to  Mr.  Courtney  to  say  that  he  is  an 
exception  to  this  rule.  In  point  of  both  reasoning  and 
style,  his  contributions  to  "  The  Fortnightly,"  for  ex- 
ample, and  his  reported  speeches,  bear  but  few  traces 
of  the  depletory  process  to  which  I  have  alluded.  This 
exemption  may,  to  some  extent,  be  accounted  for  by 
the  fact,  that,  on  completing  his  university  curriculum, 
he  broke  vigorously  into  intellectual  fields  and  pastures 
new. 

In  1858  he  was  called  to  the  bar  by  the  Honorable 
Society  of  Lincoln's  Inn  ;  and  in  1872  he  became  pro- 
fessor of  political  economy  at  University  College,  a 
post  which  he  retained  for  nearly  three  years.  During 
that  time  he  acquainted  himself  with  all  the  best  writers 
on  the  subject,  and  became  a  warm  advocate  of  the 
special  views  of  John  Stuart  Mill.     From  Mill  it  is 


132       EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT.     . 

easy  to  see  that  he  derived  a  great  deal  more  than  from 
the  Abna  Mater  of  which  he  is  a  senior  fellow.  With 
respect  to  the  representation  of  minorities,  and  the 
female  franchise  more  particularly,  the  mantle  of  the 
deceased  philosopher  has  fallen  on  his  shoulders.  Mill 
was  never  at  a  university  ;  yet  it  has  been  his  part  to 
fructify  the  intellects  of  such  distinguished  university 
alumni  as  Courtne}^  and  Fawcett.  Without  his  influ- 
ence there  is  no  sajing  what  they  might  not  have  been. 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  are  in  reality  huge  forcing- 
houses  for  the  production  of  young  aristocrats,  main- 
tained at  scandalous  cost,  in  no  sense  national  institu- 
tions, and  about  the  last  places  in  the  world  where  one 
would  dream  of  going  in  order  to  acquire  the  art  of 
thinking.  Such  exceptionally  intelligent  and  public- 
spirited  emanations  as  the  members  for  Hacknej'  and 
Liskeard  are  in  reality  rather  a  misfortune  than  other- 
wise.    Their  "  fellowship  "  is  a  snare. 

"  The  name  of  Cassius  honors  this  corruption, 
And  Chastisement  doth  therefore  hide  his  head." 

It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say,  that  if  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge were  erased  from  the  map  of  England  to-mor- 
row, and  the  intellect  of  the  country  permitted  to  flow 
into  freer  channels,  the  political  and  general  intelli- 
gence of  the  people  would  be  elevated  by  the  change 
many  degrees. 

Besides  discharging  the  duties  of  the  political  econ- 
omy chair  at  University  College,  Mr.  Courtney  has  held 
several  other  appointments,  which  have  necessarily  ex- 
tended the  range  of  his  intellectual  vision.  He  has 
been  an  examiner  in  literature  and  historj'^  for  the 
Indian  Civil  Service,  and  examiner  in  the  constitution- 


LEONAED  HENEY  COURTNEY.       133 

al  history  of  England  for  the  University  of  London. 
Since  1864  he  has,  moreover,  beefi  a  "Times"  leader- 
writer,  with  all  that  that  implies. 

When  he  left  his  seat  in  the  gallery  to  take  his  seat 
on  the  opposition  benches,  he  entered  the  actual  arena 
of  politics  armed,  so  to  speak,  cap-a-pie.  In  addition, 
he  had  travelled  much,  and  examined  on  the  spot  the 
working  of  the  political  machinery  of  many  lands.  He 
had  visited  nearly  every  European  country,  the  United 
States  twice,  as  well  as  Canada,  India,  Turkey,  and 
Egypt. 

His  first  attempt  to  force  the  gates  of  St.  Stephen's 
was  made  at  the  general  election  of  1874,  when  he 
boldly  threw  down  the  gauntlet  to  that  clever  but  un- 
stable politician,  the  late  Right  Honorable  Edward 
Horsman.  Mr.  Horsman  won  by  the  narrow  majority 
of  five  votes.  A  somewhat  acrimonious  war  of  words 
followed,  wherein  Mr.  Courtney  had  not  the  worst  of 
it. 

Towards  the  close  of  1876  Mr.  Horsman  died ;  and 
Mr.  Courtney  and  Lieut.-Col.  Sterling  entered  the  field, 
the  former  polling  388,  and  the  latter  281  votes.  Mr. 
Com-tney's  poll  was  the  largest  ever  recorded  for  a 
candidate  at  Liskeard,  and,  coming  as  it  did  when 
Liberal  fortunes  were  very  low,  did  a  good  deal  to 
re-invigorate  the  party  in  Parliament. 

It  remains  to  consider,  however  inadequately,  a  few 
of  the  more  prominent  questions  with  which  Mr.  Court- 
ney has  identified  himself.  He  is  now  the  chief  advo- 
cate in  Parliament  of  the  representation  of  minorities 
and  of  women,  or,  to  be  more  gallant,  of  women  and 
minorities.  Now,  with  regard  to  the  question  of  mi- 
nority representation,  much  may  be  said  pro  and  con. 


134       EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

Mr.  Mill  undoubtedly  regarded  Mr.  Hare's  scheme  of 
"  proportional  representation  "  as  a  political  discovery 
of  the  most  important  character,  and  anj'  such  opinion 
of  Mill's  is  of  course  entitled  to  respectful  considera- 
tion. But  Mr.  Courtney  is  so  enamoured  of  "three- 
cornered  constituencies  "  and  "  cimiulative  votes  "  that 
he  positively  refused  to  support  Mr.  Trevelyan's  County 
Franchise  Bill  because  it  contained  no  provision  for 
the  realization  of  a  "principle  which  would  re-create 
political  life,  raising  it  out  of  the  degradation  which 
overlaid  it."  Mr.  Courtney  tells  us  we  are  about  to  be 
overwhelmed  by  the  billows  of  a  tempestuous  demo- 
cratic ocean  abounding  in  unknown  terrors.  There  is 
but  one  escape :  we  must  all  put  out  to  sea  in  tiny 
"three-cornered"  boats,  on  pain  of  universal  political 
shipwreck.  Was  there  ever  so  great  faith  seen  in  or 
out  of  Israel  ?  One  recalls  the  exclamation  of  the  Bre- 
ton mariner,  —  "How  great,  O  Lord,  is  thy  ocean! 
and  how  small  is  my  skiflf !  "  The  danger  to  be  appre- 
hended is  no  less  than  the  gradual  extinction  of  the 
"  independent  member." 

Now,  apart  from  the  fact  that  the  independent  mem- 
ber is  generally  a  member  who  is  not  to  be  depended 
on,  is  it  a  fact  that  our  experience  of  the  actual  work- 
ing of  the  "cumulative  vote"  and  of  the  "three- 
cornered  constituency"  has  been  so  encouraging  as  to 
induce  us  to  withhold  the  franchise  from  the  county 
householder  until  the  requisite  number  of  "comers" 
and  "cumulations"  can  be  created?  I  chance  to 
know  the  electoral  circumstances,  parliamentary  and 
scholastic,  of  two  important  cities  in  the  north, — the 
one  returning  three  members  to  Parliament  by  the 
three-cornered  artifice ;  the  other,  thirteen  members  to 


LEONAED  HENRY  COURTNEY.       135 

the  school  board  by  the  cumulative  process.  In  the 
former  case  the  Tories,  at  the  general  election  of  1874, 
managed  to  return  their  candidate,  simply  because  no 
human  ingenuity  could,  with  the  secrecy  of  the  ballot- 
box  to  contend  against,  so  evenly  apportion  the  two 
votes  of  each  Liberal  elector  among  the  three  Liberal 
candidates  as  to  keep  the  Conservative  at  the  bottom 
of  the  poll.  With  an  open  vote,  it  was  quite  possible, 
though  unnecessarilj'  difficult ;  but  under  the  ballot  it 
was  a  preposterous  game  of  blind  man's  buflE",  —  the 
veriest  ne  plus  ultra  of  legislative  folly.  The  minority 
succeeded  with  a  vengeance. 

In  the  other  case  three  school-board  elections  have 
taken  place.  On  the  first  occasion  the  Radical 
("  Secularist ")  minority  put  up  too  many  candidates, 
and  returned  none ;  next  election  they  carried  two, 
who  found  themselves  powerless  to  influence  the  decis- 
ions of  the  ultra-orthodox  majority.  These  two  stood 
again,  but  as  acquiescing  in  the  ecclesiastico-educa- 
tional  policy  favored  by  the  mass  of  the  electors,  and 
lost  their  seats,  as  they  deserved  to  do.  An  intelli- 
gent and  active  minority  with  a  just  cause  was  thus 
effaced.  It  would  be  very  unsafe  to  found  any  argu- 
ment on  such  slender  data  ;  but  it  is  quite  possible  that 
the  ultimate  effect  of  minority  representation,  at  all 
events  in  its  present  shape,  may  be  found  to  have  the 
very  opposite  efiect  of  what  Mr.  Courtney  anticipates. 
Its  tendency  appears  to  be  to  confirm  majorities  in 
erroneous  opinions,  whUe  hopelessly  discouraging  right- 
thinking  minorities  from  further  propaganda.  Wben 
once  we  have  obtained  something  like  true  electoral 
majorities,  it  will  be  time  enough  to  provide  for  the 
representation  of  minorities. 


136       EJVIINENT  LIBERALS   IN  PAELIAMENT. 

At  the  election  of  1868,  Lancashire,  as  Mr.  Court- 
ney has  pointed  out,  with  its  included  towns,  returned 
twentj"-two  Conservative  to  eleven  Liberal  representa- 
tives ;  3et  the  Liberal  vote  was  one  hundred  and  four 
thousand  strong,  while  the  Conservative  was  only  one 
hundred  and  two  thousand.  Suppose  the  distinction 
of  town  and  county  were  abolished  once  and  for  all, 
and  each  shire  or  aggregate  of  shires  were  permitted  to 
vote  for  a  group  of  candidates  in  proportion  to  its  elec- 
torate, on  something  like  the  old  French  system  of 
scrutin  de  liste,  would  not  that  give  a  fairer  chance  to 
' '  independent  members  ' '  and  candidates  ' '  above  me- 
diocritj' ' '  than  thoroughl}-  artificial  corners  and  cumu- 
lations ?  Let  ]VIr.  Coiutney  consider  the  matter ;  for 
certainly  the  minority-representation  craze  has  landed 
him  in  strange  seeming  contradictions. 

On  the  one  day  he  opposed  the  enfranchisement  of 
the  count}'  householder,  and  on  the  next  he  proposed 
to  remove  the  electoral  disabilities  of  women.  He 
would  plead,  doubtless,  by  wa^'  of  extenuation,  that 
this  was  not  a  lowering,  but  an  assimilation,  of  the  fran- 
chise, and  that  he  was  not  consequently  compelled  by 
consistency  to  encumber  his  bill  with  an}-  three-cornered 
contrivances.  But  the  point  is  all  too  fine  ;  and  the 
House  showed  its  sense  of  the  incongruity  of  the  situa- 
tion by  recording  a  majority  of  a  hundred  and  fourteen 
votes  against  the  measure,  as  compared  with  eighty 
the  3'ear  before,  and  this  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
the  member  for  Liskeard's  arguments  were  most  cogent. 
It  is  hardly  necessar}'  to  observe,  that,  like  all  ardent 
advocates  of  female  rights,  Mr.  Courtney  is  a  bachelor. 

But  there  is  one  question  with  respect  to  which  the 
most  captious  Radical  can  have  nothing  but  words  of 


LEONARD   HENRY  COURTNEY.  137 

praise  to  bestow  on  Mr.  Courtnej'.  Since  he  first 
entered  Parliament  he  has  never  ceased,  in  season  and 
out  of  season,  to  oppose  with  rare  foresight  the  disas- 
trous policy  of  which  the  upshot  has  been  the  serious 
and  discreditable  war  with  the  Zulus.  His  fidelity  in 
this  matter  ought  never  to  be  forgotten. 

On  the  7th  of  August,  1877,  he  moved  the  following 
resolution  with  respect  to  the  annexation  of  the  Trans- 
vaal :  ''  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  House,  the  annexa- 
tion of  the  South- African  Republic  is  unjustifiable,  and 
calculated  to  be  injurious  to  the  interests  of  the  United 
Kingdom  and  of  its  colonies  in  South  Africa."  "  We 
had  formerly  agreed,"  he  said,  "  not  to  carry  our  arms 
into  the  middle  of  Africa,  and  to  allow  the  Dutch  Boers 
themseh'es  to  go  into  the  interior.  Vt'e  had  reversed 
that  polic}'.  We  had  taken  on  ourselves  the  immense 
burden  of  administering  the  affau's  of  the  Transvaal. 
We  had  made  oiu*selves  responsible  for  what  that  re- 
public had  done,  and  icould  have  to  take  vp  its  quarrels 
with  the  native  chiefs.  The  cost  would  not  be  borne 
by  the  colonies,  and  would  have  to  be  borne  by  us  at 
home.  The  vote  of  to-night  was  the  first  sjTnptom  of 
the  considerable  expenditure  which  the  countrj'  would 
have  to  bear  for  many  years  in  connection  with  this 
matter." 

Most  true!  "The  pity  is  'tis  true."  I  reproduce 
these  words  from  Hansard,  because  they  are  an  imper- 
ishable monument  of  Mr.  Courtney's  sagacitj'  as  a 
counsellor  of  the  nation  in  the  conduct  of  diflScult 
aflTairs.  He  demonstrated  that  Sir  Theophilus  Shepstone 
had,  with  a  high  hand,  violated  both  the  conditions  by 
which  the  Colonial  OflSce  sought  to  bind  him  in  his  deal- 
ings with  the  Transvaal.     He  had  issued  his  annexa- 


138       EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

tionist  proclamation  without  the  sanction  of  the  High 
Commissioner,  and  against  the  wishes  of  the  Boers,  who 
publicly  protested  against  the  outrage  in  the  proportion 
of  twelve  to  one.  The  subjugation  of  the  Transvaal 
was  perhaps  the  most  treacherous  act,  the  basest  mani- 
festation of  our  ' '  spirited  foreign  policy  ; ' '  and  jet, 
alas  !  Lord  Sandon,  in  the  debate  on  Sir  Charles  Dilke's 
memorable  resolution,  was  able  to  say  with  truth,  "  The 
honorable  member  for  Liskeard  has  a  right  to  raise  the 
question  of  the  Transvaal ;  but  most  of  those  opposite 
can  scarcel}^  do  so  with  good  grace.  The  annexation 
of  the  Transvaal  was  accepted  generally  by  the  two 
great  political  parties  in  the  House." 

Having  done  our  best  to  restore  the  emancipated 
Eoumelians  to  the  hateful  joke  of  the  Sultan,  it  was 
perhaps  fitting  that  we  should  seek  to  subject  these 
brave  Dutch  republicans  to  that  of  the  Empress  of 
India.  0  tempora,  0  mores  !  I  congratulate  the  mem- 
ber for  Liskeard  that  in  this  infamous  transaction  his 
hands  at  least  are  clean. 


XII. 

ANTHONY  JOHN  MUNDELLA. 

"  O  heavens  !  what  some  men  do 
While  some  men  leave  to  do  !  " 

THERE  is  no  better  example  in  Parliament  of  what 
is  called  a  "  self-made  man  "  than  Anthony  John 
Mundella,  the  irrepressible  representative  of  Sheffield 
Radicalism. 

An  apologist  of  the  late  Andrew  Johnson,  President 
of  the  United  States,  once  urged,  in  the  hearing  of 
Thaddeus  Stevens,  that  "  Andy  "  was  at  least  a  "  self- 
made  man.' '  The  retort  of  that  bitterest  of  politicians 
was  crushing :  "I  am  glad  to  hear  it ;  it  relieves  Prov- 
idence of  a  heavj^  responsibility."  Now,  one  has  at 
first  a  little  of  this  sort  of  feeling  with  respect  to  Mr. 
Mundella.  The  edifice  which  the  self-made  man  erects 
is  apt  to  appear  so  much  more  elegant  to  the  architect 
than  to  the  public.  Besides,  the  honorable  member  for 
Sheffield  is  a  curious  combination.  His  coat  is  one  of 
man}"^  colors.  He  is  half  Italian,  half  English.  He 
has  been  everj' thing,  from  a  "printer's  devil"  to  a 
"  captain  of  industry,"  and  each  avocation  has  left 
some  traces  of  its  influence  on  his  character  and  s}Tn- 
pathies.  He  is  half  workman,  half  emploj'er.  He  is  a 
chm-chman,  and  a  warm  advocate  of  religious  equality  ; 
a  Radical,  and  a  supporter  of  the  royal  grants.     He  is 

139 


140       EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

a  living  illustration  of  the  truth  of  a  profound  saving 
in  EcclesiaBticus,  "All  things  are  double."  Add  to 
this  that  his  energy  is  irrepressible ;  that  he  is  not 
afflicted,  to  put  it  mildly,  with  mock  modesty  ;  that  he 
represents,  on  pure  principles,  a  constituency  which  is 
pre-eminently  the  most  rascally  in  England  ;  that  he  is, 
withal,  fundamentally  an  able  and  honest  politician, 
justly  regarded  by  the  working-class  as  one  of  its  great- 
est benefactors,  and  it  will  readily  be  admitted  that 
first  impressions  of  such  a  man  are  apt  to  be  erroneous. 

Among  so  manj^  seeming  contradictions  it  is  difficult 
to  find  the  reconciling  principle  or  central  fact ;  but,  like 
all  other  men  and  politicians,  Mr.  Mundella  jnaj  be 
known  bj'  the  surest  of  all  tests,  —  by  his  "  fruits."  I 
shall  merely  premise,  before  recounting  the  leading 
facts  of  his  career,  that  it  would  have,  perhaps,  been 
better  to  classify'  the  member  for  Sheffield  as  an  emi- 
nent Democrat  rather  than  as  an  eminent  Radical.  He 
is  emphatically  a  man  of  the  people,  rightly  or  wrongly 
feeling  as  they  feel,  thinking  as  they  think ;  and  I 
doubt  if  there  be  in  England,  excepting  Mr.  Brad- 
laugh,  a  more  effective  out-of-door  speaker,  a  more 
powerful  haranguer  of  mass  meetings.  He  is  at 
home  in  a  multitude,  however  vast  or  however  rude. 
He  is  one  of  the  very  few  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons  who  can  beat  down  a  refractory  public  meet- 
ing by  unflinching  resolution  and  sheer  strength  of  lung. 
In  the  town  of  Broadhead  such  a  qualification  is  simply 
invaluable  ;  and,  but  for  the  unsparing  exercise  of  it  at 
the  elections  of  1874  and  1880,  the  Liberalism  of  Shef- 
field would  have  showed  but  poorly  indeed. 

Anthony  John  Mundella,  M.P.,  was  born  at  Leices- 
ter in  March,  1825,  the  eldest  son  in  a  family  of  five. 


ANTHONY  JOHN  MUNDELLA.       141 

Mundella,  senior,  was  a  Lombard  refugee,  a  native  of 
Como,  who,  taking  part  in  the  insuiTectionary  move- 
ment against  the  Austrians  in  1820,  was  driven  into 
exile.  He  landed  in  England  almost  penniless,  and 
settled  eventually  in  Leicester,  where  he  endeavored  to 
earn  a  livelihood  as  a  teacher  of  languages.  Instruc- 
tion in  modem  tongues  was  then  a  luxury  in  which  but 
few  indulged,  and  the  luckless  Antonio,  in  consequence, 
frequently  broke  the  exile's  bitter  bread,  —  endiu-ed 
what  his  immortal  countryman  Dante  has  called  ' '  the 
hell  of  exile."  Educated  for  the  Roman  Church,  he 
had  no  regular  profession  on  which  to  rely.  His  in- 
come was  consequently  at  all  times  precarious.  He 
married,  however,  a  remarkable  woman,  —  Rebecca 
Allsop  of  Leicester,  a  lady  richh^  endowed  mentally, 
and  possessed  of  some  little  propert}-.  She  was  an 
adept  in  lace-embroidery,  then  a  remunerative  art,  and 
her  skill  and  unremitting  industry  in  the  main  support- 
ed the  Mundella  household  for  the  first  ten  years  of  her 
married  life. 

Then  there  came  a  crisis.  Her  eyesight  almost  com- 
pletely failed ;  and  Anthony  had  in  consequence  to  be 
removed  from  school  in  his  ninth  year,  in  order  to  put 
his  childish  shoulder  to  the  wheel.  So  far  his  educa- 
tion had  been  carefully  superintended.  Mrs.  Mundella 
had  a  wide  knowledge  of  English  literature,  was  a  dili- 
gent Shakespearian  scholar,  and  little  Anthony  had 
been  as  quick  to  learn  as  she  had  been  apt  to  teach. 

His  acquirements  accordingly'  secured  him  employ- 
ment in  a  printing-office,  where  he  remained  till  his 
eleventh  year.  Thereupon  he  was  apprenticed  to  the 
hosiery  trade.  He  was  most  fortunate  in  his  employer, 
a  discriminating  man,  whose  son,  a  member  of  Parlia- 


142       EMINENT   LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

ment,  was  the  first  to  welcome  Mr.  Mundella  to  St 
Stephen's  on  his  return  for  Sheffield  in  18G8,  In  his 
eighteenth  year  his  apprenticeship  was  at  an  end. 
He  had  mastered  his  trade  thoroughl}',  and  contempo- 
raneously he  had  learned  all  that  could  be  acquired  at 
the  Mechanics'  Institute  of  the  town,  and  a  great  deal 
more.  He  was  an  indefatigable  reader.  In  his  nine- 
teenth 3^ear,  so  conspicuous  was  his  business  capacity', 
that  he  was  engaged  as  manager  of  a  large  enterprise 
in  the  cotton  trade.  At  twenty- three  he  removed  to 
Nottingham,  to  become  junior  partner  in  a  firm  which 
shortly  transacted  the  largest  hosiery  business  in  the 
Midlands,  —  Hone,  Mundella,  &  Co.,  —  employing  as 
many  as  three  thousand  "  hands."  Of  this  flourishing 
company'  Mr.  Mundella  is  still  a  director,  though  not 
interfering  veiy  actively  with  the  management.  He  is, 
moreover,  chainnan  of  the  Commercial  Union  Insur- 
ance Company,  and  is  a  director  of  the  National  Bank 
and  of  the  Bank  of  New  Zealand. 

To  very  few  "  printers'  devils"  or  "  stockingers  "  is 
it  given  thus  to  have  a  finger  in  the  grande  commerce 
of  the  country ;  but  Mr.  Mundella  climbed  the  ladder 
steadily  and  skilfully,  and  it  cannot  be  said  of  him  that 
when  he  got  to  the  sununit  he  forgot  the  condition  of 
the  less  fortunate  toilers  whom  he  left  below.  On  the 
contrary,  no  working-man  in  England  has  striven  more 
earnestly  or  intelligently  for  the  elevation  of  the  mass 
than  the  member  from  Sheffield,  as  a  bare  enumeration 
of  his  political  and  legislative  res  gestae  will  readily 
show. 

Alwaj's  precocious,  Mundella' s  political  career  began 
in  mere  boyhood.  The  Austrian  t3ranny,  which  had 
driven  his  father  from  his  native  land,  and  the  miserable 


ANTHONY  JOHN  MUNDELLA.  143 

condition  of  the  ' '  stockingers ' '  among  whom  his  lot 
was  cast,  naturall}^  disposed  him  to  become  a  partisan 
of  the  ' '  Charter, ' '  which  was  at  that  time  being  ear- 
nestly advocated  in  Leicester  by  the  well-known  Thom- 
as Cooper,  author  of  the  ''Purgatory  of  Suicides,"  a 
work  written  in  Leicester  Jail.  Cooper,  in  his  inter- 
esting "Autobiography,"  published  in  1872,  gives  us  a 
vivid  glimpse  of  the  adolescent  representative  of  Shef- 
field :  "I  had  been  appealing  strongly  one  evening 
to  the  patriotic  feelings  of  young  Englishmen,  mention- 
ing the  names  of  Hampden,  Sydney',  and  Marvell,  and 
eulogizing  the  grand  spirit  of  disinterestedness  and  self- 
sacrifice  which  characterized  so  many  of  our  brave  fore- 
runners, when  a  handsome  young  man  sprang  upon  our 
little  platfojm,  and  declared  himself  on  the  people's 
side,  and  desired  to  be  em-oUed  as  a  Chartist.  He  did 
not  belong  to  the  poorest  ranks ;  and  it  was  the  con- 
sciousness that  he  was  acting  in  the  spirit  of  self-sacri- 
fice, as  well  as  his  fervid  eloquence,  that  caused  a 
thrilling  cheer  from  the  ranks  of  the  working-men. 
He  could  not  have  been  more  than  fifteen  at  the  time. 
He  passed  away  from  us  too  soon,  and  I  have  never 
seen  him  but  once  all  these  years.  But  the  men  of 
Sheffield  have  signaUzed  their  confidence  in  his  patriot- 
ism by  returning  him  to  the  House  of  Commons  ;  and 
all  England  knows,  if  there  be  a  man  of  energy,  as  well 
as  uprightness,  in  that  House,  it  is  Anthony  John  Mun- 
della." 

This  picture  is  obviously  somewhat  overdrawn ;  but 
in  the  main  it  is  doubtless  correct.  At  Leicester,  from 
1840  to  1848,  Mr.  Mundella  agitated  by  voice  and  pen 
for  the  ' '  Charter, ' '  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  hearing 
reform  ballads  of  his  own  composition  sung  in  the 
streets. 


144       EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

When  lie  removed  to  Nottingham  in  1848,  new  public 
duties  awaited  him.  He  was  made  successively  town 
councillor,  sheriff,  alderman,  justice  of  the  peace,  and 
president  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  These  local 
experiences  were,  of  course,  valuable  to  him  as  a  legis- 
lator and  minister  in  posse ;  but  it  was  in  another  and 
more  original  field  that  he  first  did  signal,  and,  I  might 
say,  inestimable,  service  to  the  entire  conununity.  He 
was  the  author  in  1860,  as  he  was  the  president  for 
eleven  years  subsequent^,  of  the  Nottingham  Board  of 
Arbitration  and  Conciliation  for  the  Hosier}^  Trade,  — 
the  harbinger  of  so  many  others.  Wearied  with  inces- 
sant "strikes"  and  "lock-outs,"  Mr.  Mundella,  after 
many  weeks  of  fruitless  negotiation,  at  last  got  employ- 
ers and  employed  together.  After  three  days'  discus- 
sion, the  then  existing  strike  was  closed  by  mutual 
concession,  and  a  resolution  agreed  to,  that,  in  future, 
all  questions  affecting  wages  should  be  authoritatively 
settled  by  a  board  consisting  of  nine  duly  elected 
representatives  of  the  masters,  and  nine  of  the  men. 
The  board  held  its  first  meeting  on  the  3d  of  December, 
1860.  In  an  article  on  "  Conciliation  and  Arbitration  " 
in  "The  Contemporary  Review  "  for  1870,  ten  years 
later,  Mr.  Mundella  thus  sums  up  the  results  of  the 
experiment:  "Since  the  27th  of  September,  1860, 
there  has  not  been  a  bill  of  any  kind  issued.  Strikes  are 
at  an  end  also.  Levies  to  sustain  them  are  unknown  ; 
and  one  shilling  a  yeax  from  each  member  suffices  to 
pay  all  expenses.  This  —  not  a  farthing  of  which  comes 
out  of  the  pockets  of  their  masters  —  is  equivalent  to  a 
large  advance  of  wages.  I  have  inspected  the  balance- 
sheet  of  a  trades-union  of  ten  thousand  three  hundred 
men,  and  I  found  the  expenditure  for  thirteen  months 
to  amount  to  less  than  a  hundred  pounds." 


ANTHONY  JOHN  MUNDELLA.       145 

No  sooner  was  the  Nottingham  method  of  settling 
trade  disputes  by  arbitration  recognized  as  feasible, 
than  Mr.  Mundella,  as  its  author,  was  invited  by  many 
towns,  and,  among  others,  by  Sheffield,  to  give  popular 
expositions  of  his  system.  Sheffield  had  suffered  many 
things  at  the  hands  of  Broadhead  and  his  infamous 
crew ;  and  so  pleased  was  the  cream  of  the  working- 
men  with  the  prospect  of  escape  from  the  vicious  circle 
in  which  they  were  involved,  that,  in  18G8,  they  invited 
the  chaiiman  of  the  Nottingham  board  to  come  forward 
as  their  candidate.  He  was  returned  at  the  head  of 
the  poll,  notwithstanding  the  strenuous  support  given 
to  Roebuck  by  the  assassin  Broadhead  at  trades-union 
meetings. 

On  entering  Parliament,  the  honor  of  seconding  the 
address  was  conferred  on  him  by  Mr.  Gladstone. 
Since  then  his  efforts  to  benefit  the  working-class  have 
been  unflagging,  and,  on  the  whole,  most  successful. 
His  speech  on  the  second  reading  of  the  Education 
Bill  was  pronounced  by  Mr.  Gladstone  to  be  the  most 
important  delivered  on  the  occasion.  He  had  exam- 
ined into  the  educational  systems  of  America,  German}', 
Switzerland,  and  Holland,  on  the  spot,  and  was  there- 
fore in  a  position  to  speak  with  authority  on  the  all- 
important  theme. 

His  persistent  efforts  to  repeal  the  Criminal  Law 
Amendment  Act,  that  the  equality  of  workmen  before 
the  law  might  be  established,  and  to  pass  the  Factor}^ 
Nine  Horn's  BUI,  in  order  that  the  hours  of  labor  might 
be  shortened  to  hapless  women  and  children,  have  been 
rewarded.  The  late  Tory  Government  itself  did  what 
it  would  not  permit  him  to  do.  All  the  same,  the 
credit  must  be  accorded  to  Mr.  Mundella,  whose  views 


146      EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN   PARLIAMENT. 

on  labor  and  factory  legislation  were  at  the  general 
election  of  1874  made  test  questions  all  over  the  north 
of  England. 

In  1878  he  succeeded  in  carrying  a  useful  bUl  for  the 
preservation  of  fresh-water  fisheries,  so  as  to  increase 
the  supply  of  food  and  give  harmless  sport  to  the 
poorer  class  of  anglers.  In  the  subsequent  session  his 
bUl  to  abolish  property  qualifications  in  connection  with 
all  local  government  and  municipal  bodies  was  lost  by 
only  six  votes. 

To  some,  such  legislative  achievements  maj^  appear 
small  and  commonplace ;  but  it  should  be  recollected 
that  in  legislation,  as  in  other  matters,  it  is  "  the  mean 
and  common,  the  things  of  the  eternal  j-esterday,"  that 
it  is  most  desirable  and  least  agreeable  to  tackle. 

I  have  said  that  Mr.  Mundella  is  a  Democrat  rather 
than  a  Radical,  and  I  shall  finally  give  an  illustration 
of  what  I  mean.  On  the  vote  to  pay  the  cost  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales'  mischievous  jaunt  to  India,  he  sided 
with  the  majority  in  favor  of  the  ro3'al  subsid3',  and  he 
had  the  temerity  to  assign  his  reasons  for  so  doing : 
"  As  long  as  we  had  a  monarch}',  we  should  be 
ashamed  to  have  a  cotton-velvet  or  tinfoil  sort  of 
monarchy.  He  did  not  believe  in  a  cheap,  shabby, 
brummagem  monarchy ;  and  he  always  would  give  his 
vote  loyally  and  in  consistency  with  those  opinions, 
which  he  believed  to  be  the  opinions  of  his  constitu- 
ents." 

Now,  it  is  impossible  to  say  whether  the  Radicalism  or 
the  logic  of  this  sentence  is  the  worse  ;  j'et,  I  suppose, 
it  must  be  admitted  that  such  clap-trap  is  regarded 
by  the  demos  of  Sheffield  —  to  use  the  language  of 
our  late  democratic-imperialist  Premier  —  as  "  the  voice 


ANTHONY  JOHN  MUNDELLA.       147 

of  sense  and  truth."  In  the  first  place,  apart  from  the 
fact  that  an  advanced  Radical  might  reasonably  be 
expected  to  be  ashamed  of  having  a  monarchy  of  any 
kind,  cheap  or  dear,  Mr.  Mundella  knew,  as  every 
other  member  knew,  that  the  reasons  set  forth  for  the 
prince's  trip  were  not  the  true  reasons.  In  the  second 
place,  as  a  friend  of  the  people,  and  knowing,  as  he  so 
well  knows,  the  sore  privations  of  the  masses,  how 
could  he,  with  a  clear  conscience,  hint  that  a  royal 
family,  which  directly  costs  the  nation  five  million  dol- 
lars per  annum,  is  either  cheap  or  shabby?  The  presi- 
dency of  the  United  States  costs  fifty  thousand  dollars 
a  3'ear ;  and  no  impartial  observer  has  ever  yet  afl3rmed 
that  the  simple  courtesies  and  hospitalities  of  the  White 
House  compare  unfavorably  with  the  ridiculous  tom- 
fooleries of  the  Court  of  St.  James.  In  the  thkd 
place,  it  is  not  the  part  of  a  good  Radical,  as  Mr. 
Mundella  seems  to  think,  implicitly  to  follow  the  multi- 
tude, even  if  the  multitude  consist  of  one's  constitu- 
ents. There  is  a  following  of  the  multitude  to  do  evil 
which  the  true  Radical  will  resist,  when  necessary^,  at 
all  hazards,  in  the  interest  of  the  people  themselves. 
When  great  principles  are  at  stake,  the  genuine  Radical 
must  ever  be  ready  to  go  out  into  the  wilderness,  if 
need  be,  alone. 

"  Far  in  front  the  Cross  stands  ready, 
And  the  crackling  fagots  bum, 
While  the  hooting  mob  of  yesterday 

In  silent  awe  return 
To  glean  up  the  scattered  ashes 
Into  History's  sacred  um." 

Mr.  Mundella  has  likewise  a  curious  disposition  to 
adorn  his  conversation  with  quite  unnecessary  allusions 


148       EMINENT   LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

to  the  opinions  of  "  lords  "  and  other  great  people  of 
his  acqu^ntance,  who  are  intellectually  greatly  his 
inferiors.  In  aristocracy -ridden  England  this  is  nearly 
always  a  marked  trait  of  the  self-made  man.  The  fact 
is,  the  honorable  member  for  Sheffield,  with  all  his 
vigor  of  intellect  and  many  virtues,  has  not  altogether 
escaped  the  "society"  contagion  of  which  the  court 
is  the  centre,  which  has  made  so  many  strong  men 
weak,  and  caused  "the  currents  of  so  many  enter- 
prises of  pith  and  moment  to  turn  aside  and  lose  the 
name  of  action." 

"  O  thovL  that  sea-walls  sever 

From  lands  un walled  by  seas  1 
Wilt  thou  endure  forever, 

O  Milton's  England,  these? 
Thou  that  wast  his  republic. 

Wilt  thou  clasp  their  knees  ?  — 
Those  royalties  rust-eaten, 

Those  womi-corroded  lies 
That  keep  thy  head  storm-beaten 

And  sunlike  strength  of  eyes 
From  the  open  air  and  heaven 

Of  intercepted  skies." 


XIII. 

CHARLES  BRADLAUGH. 

"  There  is  heresy  here,  you  perceive:  for  the  right 
Of  privately  judging  means  simply  that  light 
Has  been  granted  to  me  for  deciding  on  you  ; 
And  in  happier  times,  before  atheism  grew, 
The  deed  contained  clauses  for  cooking  you  too." 

I  HAVE  been  warned  by  kind  friends  who  have  been 
pleased  to  commend  several  of  the  foregoing 
sketches  much  beyond  their  deserts,  —  friends  whose 
good  opinion  I  highly  value, — that,  whatever  I  do,  I 
must  on  no  account  allow  ' '  Bradlaugh ' '  to  appear  in 
this  series.  To  veiy  many  "  Iconoclast "  is  still  mon- 
strum  horrendum  cui  lumen  ademptum.  But  my  reply 
has  invariably  been.  How  are  you  to  keep  him  out? 
The  man  is  altogether  too  big  to  be  passed  over,  if  one 
is  not  to  lose  sight  of  every  thing  savoring  of  reasona- 
ble proportion.  Besides,  though  due  regard  must  be 
had  to  the  "  single  life,"  it  is  of  yet  greater  importance 
to  consider  the  ' '  t^'pe  ; ' '  and  a  more  marked  type  of 
Radicalism  than  that  which  is  incarnated  in  Mr.  Charles 
Bradlaugh  does  not  exist.  He  is  the  grim  captain  of ' 
that  section  of  English  Radicals,  far  more  powerful 
than  is  generally  supposed,  who  boldly  inscribe  on  their 
banner  the  watchwords.  Atheism,  Malthusianism,  Re- 
publicanism.    These  fonnidable  isms,  which  philoso- 

149 


150       EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAMENT. 

phers  have  excogitated  in  the  closet  or  whispered  in 
the  salon,  Mr.  Bradlaugh  has  with  stentorian  voice 
proclaimed  from  the  housetop.  It  is  not  that  his  opin- 
ions differ  so  much  from  those  entertained  by  many 
most  respectable  and  intelligent  members  of ' '  societ}' : ' ' 
his  offence  consists  in  having  conveyed  the  news  to  the 
"  man  in  the  street."  He  has  insisted  on  popularizing 
doctrines  which  ' '  vested  interests ' '  desire  to  see  im- 
parted only  to  a  select  body  of  initiated. 

In  all  such  matters,  however,  there  is  really  but  one 
question  to  be  asked :  lias  the  propagandist  acted  in 
good  faith  ?  has  he  been  true  to  his  own  convictions  ? 
Now,  Mr.  Bradlaugh  is  a  very  big  man,  as  well  in  mind 
as  in  body,  and  large  objects  ought  never  to  be  inspected 
with  a  microscope.  He  has  been  the  hero  of  a  hundred 
fights,  and  it  may  well  be  that  he  has  not  on  aU  occa- 
sions conducted  himself  with  the  perfect  chivalry  of  a 
knight  of  romance.  Still,  taking  him  all  in  all,  and 
having  due  consideration  for  the  many  hardships  and 
temptations  of  a  career  such  as  his,  I  cannot  doubt  that 
he  has  been  valiant  —  singularl}-  valiant  —  for  the  truth 
as  he  has  known  it,  and  that  he  will  be  justly  regarded 
by  posterity  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  figures  of 
his  time  and  country.  His  anti-religious  ideas  are  in 
the  main  repugnant  to  me,  as  I  dare  say  they  are  to 
most  of  m}'^  readers ;  but  let  us  not  judge  Mr.  Brad- 
laugh or  any  other  public-spirited  citizen  by  our  par- 
ticular standard  of  spiritual  rectitude.  "Those  who 
have  not  the  law  are  a  law  unto  themselves,  their  con- 
science accusing  or  excusing  one  another."  To  his 
own  ISIaster,  to  the  light  which  lighteth  every  man  who 
Cometh  into  this  world,  Mr.  Bradlaugh  must  stand  or 
fall.     Judge  not  that  ye  be  not  judged.     Rather  let  us 


CHARLES   BRADLAUGH.  151 

say,  as  did  Oliver  Cromwell  in  a  somewhat  similar  case, 
"  Sir,  the  state,  in  choosing  men  to  serve  it,  takes  no 
notice  of  their  opinions  :  if  thej'  be  willing  faithfully  to 
serve  it,  that  satisfies.  I  advised  you  formerly  to  bear 
with  men  of  different  minds  from  jourself.  .  .  .  Take 
heed  of  being  too  sharp  or  too  easily  sharpened  by 
others  against  those  to  whom  j'ou  can  object  little,  but 
that  the}^  square  not  with  you  in  every  opinion  concern- 
ing matters  of  religion." 

It  is  a  work  of  some  difficult^'  to  summarize  the 
checkered  career  of  Mr.  Bradlaugh.  He  himself  has 
attempted  it  with  indifferent  success  in  a  brief  "  Auto- 
biograph}^,"  clear  enough  so  far  as  the  narrative  of 
events  is  concerned,  but  lacking  somewhat  in  human 
interest. 

He  was  born  at  Hoxton  in  1833.  His  father  was  a 
struggling,  indefatigable  solicitor's  clerk,  who  could 
but  ill  afford  to  give  his  son  Charles  the  scanty  educa- 
tion which  he  actuall}'  received.  At  seven  3'ears  of  age 
he  attended  a  national  school  in  Abbey  Street,  Bethnal 
Green.  Subsequently  he  was  sent  to  a  small  private 
school  hi  the  same  quarter,  and  in  his  eleventh  year  he 
completed  his  meagre  educational  curriculum  at  a  boys' 
school  in  Hackney  Road,  having  acquired  little  beyond 
a  knowledge  of  the  three  R's.  He  is,  consequently, 
for  the  most  part  a  self-taught  man  ;  but  he  has  taught 
himself  to  some  purpose.  His  mind  is  in  a  splendid 
state  of  discipline.  You  can  account  for  the  fact  when 
you  see  his  library,  which  is  as  extensive  as  it  is  curi- 
ous, —  the  well-worn  accumulations  of  a  life  devoted  to 
stormy  controvers}'  abroad  and  intense  study  at  home. 
I  never  remember  to  have  seen  such  a  serviceable  col- 
lection of  argumentative  shot  and  shell  as  on  Mr.  Brad- 
laugh's  shelves. 


152       EMINENT   LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

Mr.  Bradlaugh  was  first  employed  as  errand-boy  to 
the  firm  which  his  father  served.  In  his  fourteenth 
year  he  was  equal  to  the  more  important  duty  of  acting 
as  wharf-clerk  and  cashier  to  a  firm  of  coal-merchants 
in  Britannia  Fields,  City  Road.  While  so  engaged,  the 
serious  troubles  of  his  life  began.  In  his  sixteenth 
year  he  was  a  model  young  Christian,  an  enthusiastic 
Sunday-school  teacher,  —  altogether  a  promising  neo- 
ph3'te  of  the  Church  as  by  law  established.  But  he 
had  not,  like  Mr.  Spurgeon,  attained  to  that  chronic 
state  of  conversion,  that  sublime  superiority  to  reason, 
which  should  enable  him  to  dote  with  unutterable  joj^ 
on  such  empty  words  as  "Look,  look,  look!  "  The 
Bishop  of  London  was  announced  to  hold  a  confirma- 
tion in  Bethnal  Green  ;  and  the  incumbent  of  St.  Peter's, 
Hackney  Eoad,  in  an  evil  hour,  requested  his  j'outhful 
Sunday-school  teacher  to  be  prepared  with  suitable  an- 
swers to  any  questions  that  might  be  put  b}^  the  Right 
Reverend  Father  in  God  affecting  the  Thirty-Nine 
Articles  and  cognate  matters.  Like  an  obedient  son 
of  the  Church,  3'oung  Bradlaugh  complied,  and  began 
to  compare  the  Articles  with  the  Gospels  ;  but  finding, 
as  well  he  might,  that  they  differed,  he  wrote  a  respect- 
ful note  to  his  clergyman,  asking  to  be  piloted  through 
one  or  two  of  his  difi!iculties.  The  ill-advised  incum- 
bent replied  by  informing  the  lad's  parents  that  their 
son  had  turned  atheist,  and  that  he  had  been  sus- 
pended from  his  functions  as  a  Sunday-school  teacher 
for  a  period  of  three  months.  It  is  not  given  to  the 
clerical  profession,  as  a  rule,  to  know  much  about 
human  nature  ;  but  this  was  an  exceptional  blunder.  I 
do  not  know  that  Mr.  Bradlaugh-  is  constitutionally 
a  doubter,  —  indeed,  I  think  not ;  but  he  is  a  bom 


CHARLES   BRADLAUGH.  153 

fighter,  a  dialectical  athlete  revelling  in  the  gaudium 
certaminis  as  a  strong  man  rejoices  to  run  a  race. 
The  young  tiger  had  tasted  blood.  He  refused  to 
attend  church  during  the  interval  of  his  suspension  as 
a  teacher,  and  soon  began  to  spend  his  Sundays  else- 
where and  otherwise.  The  time  (1849)  was  one  of 
great  religious  and  political  ferment;  and  Bonner's 
Fields,  near  where  the  Consumption  Hospital  now 
stands,  was  the  habitual  resort  of  disputants  of  all 
kinds.  Thither  Bradlaugh  repaired  to  mingle  with 
youthful  ardor  in  the  fray,  —  at  first  on  the  orthodox 
Christian  side,  then  as  a  deist,  and  ultimatelj^  as  a  full- 
fledged  atheist  or  ne  plus  ultra  infidel.  How  great  a 
spark  the  rash,  intolerant  incumbent  of  St.  Peter's  had 
kindled !  Mr.  Bradlaugh' s  next  step  on  the  downward 
path  was  to  become  a  teetotaller,  and  this  brought 
matters  to  a  crisis.  At  the  instance  of  the  reverend 
gentleman,  Mr.  Bradlaugh's  employers  gave  him  "three 
days  to  change  his  opinions,  or  lose  his  situation."  He 
might  have  swallowed  one  at  a  time  ;  but ' '  beer  and 
the  Bible  "  made  his  gorge  rise.  ^ 

Eather  than  succumb,  the  poor  boy  elected  to  go  out 
from  his  father's  house  a  social  outcast,  and  throw  him- 
self on  the  stony-hearted  world.  Whether  pride  or 
principle  had  most  to  do  with  this  Jiegira,  it  might  be 
hard  to  say  ;  but,  in  any  case,  the  die  was  irrevocably 
cast.  He  soon  became  known  as  a  boy -preacher  of  the 
most  audacious  infidelity  ;  but  it  did  not  pay.  Unlike 
Spurgeon's  godliness,  Bradlaugh's  ungodliness  was  by  no 
means  ' '  great  gain. ' '  In  his  seventeenth  year  he  found 
himself  reduced  to  such  straits  that  he  was  compelled 
to  enlist  in  the  Seventh  Dragoon  Guards ;  and  with 
this  regiment  he  served  for  three  yeai's  in  Ireland,  and 


154       EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

there  he  did  not  neglect  his  opportunities.  He  studied 
the  grievances  of  the  Irish  people  on  the  spot,  and 
hence  his  never-failing  sympathy  with  that  much- 
enduring  race.  By  his  hand  was  drawn  up  the  famous 
manifesto  of  the  Irish  Republic  which  ushered  in  the 
Fenian  agitation.  In  1853,  through  the  death  of  an 
aunt,  he  inherited  a  small  sum  of  money,  out  of  which 
he  purchased  his  discharge,  and  returned  to  London, 
quitting  the  regiment  with  a  ' '  very  good  chai-acter  ' ' 
from  his  colonel,  who  all  along  treated  him  with  marked 
consideration.  He  was  soon  luck}'  enough  to  find 
employment  in  the  chambers  of  a  solicitor  named 
Rogers,  a  liberal-minded  man,  who  was  proof  against 
all  the  shafts  of  anon}Tnous  bigotr}'  which  were 
showered  on  him  as  the  harborer  of  Iconoclast.  In 
this  office  Mr.  Bradlaugh  acquired  a  knowledge  of  legal 
principles  and  procedure  of  which  the  most  eminent 
counsel  at  the  English  bar  might  well  be  proud.  He 
again  began  to  lecture  in  various  metropolitan  free- 
thought  institutions,  more  particularly  the  Hall  of 
Science,  Citj'  Road,  of  which  my  friend,  Mr.  Eveljn 
Jerrold,  lias  recently  given  an  account  so  just  and 
graphic. 

In  1855  Mr.  Bradlaugh  had  his  first  encounter  with 
the  police  authorities  in  regard  to  the  right  of  public 
meeting  in  Hjde  Park.  He  carried  his  point,  and  was 
publicly  thanked  by  the  Royal  Commission  of  Inquiry 
for  the  value  of  the  evidence  given  by  him  on  the 
occasion.  In  1858  Mr.  Edwai-d  Truelove,  the  well- 
known  and  personally  estimable  free-thought  publisher, 
was  an-ested  for  issuing  the  pamphlet,  ' '  Is  T3ranuicide 
Justifiable?"  while  Simon  Bernard  was  at  the  same 
time  incarcerated,  at  the  instance  of  the  French  Gov- 


CHARLES   BRADLAUGH.  156 

ernment,  for  alleged  complicity  in  the  Orsini  con- 
spiracy. In  the  defence  of  both  Mr.  Bradlaugh  ren- 
dered material  assistance. 

"  In  October,  18G0,"  said  Mr.  Bradlaugh  in  his  "Au- 
tobiography," "I  paid  my  first  visit  to  Wigau,  and 
certainly  lectured  there  under  considerable  difficult}', 
the  resident  clergy  actually  inciting  the  populace  to 
ph3'8ical  violence  and  part  destruction  of  the  building  I 
lectured  in.  I,  however,  supported  by  a  courageous 
woman  and  her  husband,  persevered,  and,  despite 
bricks  and  kicks,  visited  Wigan  again  and  again  until 
I  had,  bo7i  gre,  mal  gre,  improved  the  manners  and 
customs  of  the  people,  so  that  I  am  now  a  welcome 
speaker  there.  I  could  not,"  he  naivel}'  adds,  "im- 
prove the  morals  of  the  clergy,  as  the  public  journals 
have  recently  shown ;  but  that  was  their  misfortune, 
not  my  fault." 

In  1861  Mt.  Bradlaugh  was  arrested  at  the  instance 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  Plymouth  ; 
but  he  succeeded,  thanks  to  his  forensic  skill,  in  wring- 
ing from  an  unwilling  bench  of  magistrates  a  prompt 
certificate  of  dismissal.  Mr.  Bradlaugh  then,  in  turn, 
raised  proceedings  against  the  Pl^^mouth  superintend- 
ent of  police  for  illegal  an'est.  The  verdict,  one  far- 
thing damages,  though  unsatisfactory'  in  the  main,  had 
3'et  two  important  results :  it  made  the  Plymouth  au- 
thorities paj'  sweetly  for  their  intolerance  in  the  shape 
of  costs,  and  it  secured  the  right  of  free  speech  in 
Plymouth  and  adjoining  towns. 

In  1862  a  Church  of  England  clergyman  was  guilty 
of  a  foul  libel  affecting  the  late  Mrs.  Bradlaugh  and 
her  two  amiable  and  highly  accomplished  daughters, 
whom  to  know  is  to  respect.      "This  fellow,"  says 


156       EMINENT  LIBERALS  IN  PARLIAltfENT. 

Mr.  Bradlaugh,  "  I  compelled  to  retract  every  word  he 
had  uttered,  and  to  pay  a  hundred  pounds,  which,  after 
deducting  costs,  was  divided  amongst  various  charitable 
institutions.  The  reverend  libeller  wrote  me  an  abject 
letter,  begging  me  not; to  ruin  his  prospects  in  the  Church 
by  publishing  his  name.  I  consented,  and  he  has  since 
repaid  my  mercy  by  losing  no  opportunity  of  being  of- 
fensive. He  is  a  prominent  contributor  to  '  The  Rock,' 
and  a  fierce  ultra- Protestant. "  Mr.  Bradlaugh 's  rela- 
tions with  the  Anglican  priesthood,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted, have  at  all  times  been  most  unfortunate. 

To  the  Reform  League,  in  1867,  Mr.  Bradlaugh 
rendered  most  valuable  services,  —  services  which, 
when  his  connection  with  the  association  ceased,  were 
handsomely  acknowledged  in  writing  by  the  president, 
Mr.  Beales,  and  the  secretary,  Mr.  George  Howell. 
To  his  marvellous  courage  and  perseverance  is  it  like- 
wise owing  that  the  last  fetter  has  been  struck  off  the 
press  of  England.  Up  to  1869  every  newspaper  was 
required  by  law  to  give  securities  to  the  extent  of  four 
thousand  dollars  against  the  appearance  of  blasphemous 
or  seditious  libels.  Mr.  Bradlaugh,  refusing  compliance, 
printed  his  journal  "  in  defiance  of  her  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment," and  so  repeatedly  baffled  the  law  ofiicers  of 
the  crown  in  their  prosecutions,  that  the  statute  had 
finally  to  be  repealed,  the  late  Mr.  J.  S.  Mill  writing 
thus  to  the  defendant  in  connection  with  the  event: 
' '  You  have  gained  a  verj'  honorable  success  in  obtain- 
ing a  repeal  of  the  mischievous  act  b}^  your  persevering 
resistance."  Mr.  Bradlaugh  was  likewise  instrumental, 
after  much  costly  litigation,  in  establishing  the  com- 
petenc}^  of  freethinkers  to  give  evidence  in  courts  of 
law.     He  carried  a  case  in  which  his  testimony  as 


CHARLES   BRADLAUGH.  157 

plaintiff  was  objected  to  from  court  to  court  till  the 
Evidence  Acts  of  1869  and  1870  eventually  relieved 
freethinkers  from  the  disability  so  grievous  and  unjust. 
No  sooner  was  he  returned  to  Parliament  than  he  found 
himself  confronted  by  a  similar  difficulty.  So  fresh  in 
the  public  mind  and  so  dramatic  were  the  circumstances 
attending  the  attempt  to  exclude  him  from  the  House, 
that  they  need  not  be  narrated  here.  Suffice  it  to  say 
that  the  courage,  ability,  and  tact  with  which  Mr. 
Bradlaugh  conducted  his  case  have  been  handsomely 
acknowledged  even  by  bitter  opponents. 

During  the  Franco-Prussian  war,  Mr.  Bradlaugh  took 
no  active  part  in  favor  of  either  side  till  the  installation 
of  the  provisional  republican  government.  Then,  as 
might  have  been  expected,  he  used  his  utmost  influence 
on  behalf  of  France.  Great  meetings  were  held  in 
London,  and  in  the  leading  provincial  towns,  to  ex- 
press sympathy  with  the  struggling  republic,  which,  it 
was  hoped,  might  ultimately  be  able  to  drive  the  in- 
vader from  French  soil.  Twice  was  Mr.  Bradlaugh 
put  under  arrest  —  once  by  the  provisional  govern- 
ment, and  once  by  M.  Thiers  —  for  his  presumed  sup- 
port of  dangerous  sections  of  the  republican  party ;  but 
his  lo3'alty  to  the  cause  of  free  government  in  France 
did  not  go  unacknowledged.  The  Tours  government 
thanked  him  for  his  fraternal  eflforts  in  a  long  and  flat- 
tering letter  signed  by  Gambetta,  Cremieux,  Glais  Bi- 
zoin,  and  Fourichon  ;  while  M.  Tissot,  the  French  charge 
<f  affaires  in  England,  and  Emmanuel  Arago,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  provisional  government,  addressed  him  in- 
dividually, the  last-named  eminent  man  concluding 
his  note  with  the  words  :  ' '  Mr.  Bradlaugh  est  et  sera 
toujours  dans  la  republique  notre  concitoyen. ' ' 


158       EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN   PARLIAMENT. 

In  1873  Mr.  Bradlaugh  conve3'ed  to  the  short-lived 
republican  government  of  Spain  the  congratulations 
of  a  great  Radical  meeting  held  in  the  Town  Hall  of 
Birmingham,  and  was  received  by  the  republicans  of 
nearly  every  shade  with  open  arms,  notwithstanding  an 
intimation,  lodged  by  Mr.  Layard  in  his  ambassadorial 
capacity,  that  the  Queen  of  England  would  regard  any 
manifestations  of  confidence  in  Mr.  Bradlaugh  as  a 
personal  affront.  The  speech  which  the  English  icono- 
clast delivered  at  the  great  banquet  given  in  his  honor 
at  Madrid  was  marked  by  singular  moderation  of  tone. 
He  was  perhaps  the  first  Englishman  who  foresaw  the 
accession  of  the  Alphonsists  to  power. 

Towards  the  end  of  1873  Mr.  Bradlaugh  visited  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  commenced  an  exten- 
sive lecturing  tour,  dealing  with  such  subjects  as  Eng- 
lish republicanism,  the  Irish  land  question,  &c.  ;  and, 
wisel}'  shunning  the  field  of  religious  controversy,  he 
lectiu*ed  in  all  the  chief  towns  of  New  England  and  the 
middle  States,  and  met  generally  with  a  most  cordial 
reception.  At  Boston  —  cultured,  critical  Boston  — 
"Wendell  Phillips,  "  the  silver-tongued  Demosthenes 
of  America,"  presided  at  Mr.  Bradlaugh's  lecture,  with 
Senator  Sumner  and  Lloyd  Garrison  on  the  platform 
beside  him.  Mr.  Phillips  introduced  the  great  bug- 
bear of  English  public  life  as  "  the  Samuel  Adams  of 
1873,"  the  Samuel  Adams  of  1766  being  "  that  austere 
patriot  always  faithful  and  true  "  who  spoke  the  first 
words  of  defiant  protest  against  the  tjTanny  of  English 
monarchical  rule  in  New  England.  The  lectm-er  real- 
ized on  an  average  the  handsome  sum  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty  dollars  per  lecture. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  Prince  of  Wales'  mischievous 


CHARLES   BRADLAUGH.  159 

and  insidiously  planned  jaunt  to  India,  Mr.  Bradlaugh 
was  not  wanting  to  the  popular  cause.  He  called  the 
people  together  in  Hyde  Park,  in  which  he  may  be  said 
•to  have  preserved  the  right  of  public  meeting,  and 
entered  a  spirited  though  unavailing  protest  against  the 
subsidy  ;  and  petitions  bearing  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  thousand  signatures  were  in  consequence  laid  on 
the  table  of  the  House  of  Commons.  The  shameless 
Tichbome  imposture  he  relentlessly  exposed,  and 
throughout  the  late  disgraceful  Jingo  episode  in  the 
history-  of  the  nation  he  was  faithful  even  to  the  shed- 
ding of  blood.  At  the  second  of  the  two  memorable 
Jingo  demonstrations  in  Hyde  Park,  he  would  in  all 
probability  have  been  killed  but  for  his  enonnous 
bodily  strength  and  personal  intrepidity.  As  it  was, 
his  left  arm,  with  which  he  protected  his  head  from  the 
savage  blows  of  his  assailants,  fell  powerless  by  his 
side  before  he  could  cleave  his  way  with  a  heavy  trun- 
cheon to  a  place  of  safety.  Erysipelas  supervened, 
and  for  three  weeks  his  life  was  in  peril.  It  is  but  fair 
to  add  that  five  of  his  foemen  found  their  way  to  St. 
George's  Hospital. 

I  have  mentioned  these  matters  with  perhaps  tedious 
minuteness,  because  in  public  life  Mr.  Bradlaugh,  like 
politicians  in  better  repute,  has  a  right  to  be  judged  by 
his  "fruits."  It  is  but  too  common  in  respectable 
circles  to  regard  him  as  a  vulgar,  self-seeking  dema- 
gogue. Now,  demagogue  he  may  be,  but  certainly 
not  in  the  objectionable,  accepted  sense  of  the  word. 
He  has  never  concealed  his  anxiety  to  get  into  Parlia- 
ment ;  but  of  all  the  roads  by  .which  St.  Stephen's  may 
be  approached  he  has  certainly  chosen  the  least  likely 
and  the  most  arduous.     He  has  been  at  a  world  of 


160       EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN  PARLIAMENT. 

pains  to  spoil  his  own  chances.  All  the  gre£tt  "  in- 
terests " —  royalty,  aristocracy,  plutocracy,  church, 
chapel,  public  house  —  have  arrayed  themselves  against 
him.  Yet,  excepting  Mr.  Gladstone,  this  man  has  per-, 
haps  the  most  attached  personal  following  of  any  poli- 
tician in  England.  This  unique  position  he  has  won 
by  his  daring,  by  his  intellect,  by  his  Titanic  energy, 
and  by  his  general  thoroughness  of  character.  If  he 
is  not  a  real  hero,  he  is  a  surprisingly  clever  counterfeit. 
In  his  own  way,  and  by  his  own  example,  he  has  in- 
spired many  thousands  of  the  most  abject  of  his  coun- 
trymen with  re-invigorated  feelings  of  self-reliance  and 
renewed  hope  on  earth.  He  has  taught  them  the  ines- 
timable lesson  of  self-help,  of  righteous  indignation 
against  oppression. 

On  the  other  hand,  like  nearly  all  atheists  whom  I 
have  known,  he  is  a  consummate  egotist.  He  who  rec- 
ognizes in  nature  no  power  greater  than  himself  almost 
necessarily  rises  rapidly  in  self-esteem.  There  is  very 
little  room  left  for  the  Christian  virtues  of  patience,  hu- 
mility, charity.  Indeed,  these  are  pretty  much  what 
M*.  Bradlaugh  attributes  to  Christ  as  faults  of  charac- 
ter. There  is  no  God,  and  Charles  Bradlaugh  is  his 
prophet.  This  is  the  secret  of  his  power.  Not  that  I 
mean  to  affirm  in  the  least  that  Bradlaugh 's  egotism  is 
incompatible  with  the  common  weal.  In  a  different 
way  from  Beesly  or  Spurgeon,  he  has  arrived  at  cer- 
tainty.    That  is  all.     He  might  say,  like  Faust,  — 

"  No  scruples  or  doubts  in  my  bosom  dwell, 
Nor  idle  fears  of  devils  in  hell." 

Hurrah  for  the  "Everlasting  No!"  On  this  sure 
foundation  let  the  edifice  of  human  happiness  be  erected. 


CHARLES  BRADLAUGH.  161 

Absolute  selfishness  more  or  less  enlightened  —  call  it 
individualism,  or  by  whatever  name  you  will  —  is  the 
way,  the  truth,  and  the  life.  Whenever  any  great 
world-synthesis  of  religious  or  moral  ideas  has  broken 
down,  this  has  been  the  inevitable  result  of  anal3^sis. 
But  the  human  race  can  never  permanently  live  on 
negations.  In  the  heat  of  conflict,  while  the  old  system 
is  dying  and  the  new  is  unborn,  they  may  appear  almost 
like  gospel  truths  ;  but,  when  the  ground  has  once  been 
fairly  cleared,  their  significance  is  at  an  end.  Men  once 
more  begin  to  recognize  in  nature  a  more  profound  pur- 
pose, a  more  all -pervading  intelligence,  a  more  sacred 
continuity,  than  before.  Comte  attempted  to  piece  to- 
gether the  broken  links  of  our  faith,  but  failed.  Mr. 
Bradlaugh  merely  dances  an  Indian  war-dance  in  paint 
and  feathers  among  the  debris.  It  is,  in  my  opinion,  a 
poor  and  questionable  occupation  for  so  able  a  man. 
The  Deliverer  is  yet  to  come,  and  there  are  many  signs 
that  he  cannot  now  be  far  off.  Meantime  wise  men 
will  possess  their  souls  in  patience,  awaiting  with  confi- 
dence the  dawn  of  the  better  day.  "  Almighty  God ! 
thou  wilt  cause  the  day  to  dawn  ;  but  as  yet  struggles 
the  twelfth  hour  of  the  night.  Nocturnal  birds  of  prey 
are  on  the  wing  ;  the  dead  walk  ;  the  living  dream." 

But  all  this  has  little  to  do  with  Mr.  Bradlaugh's 
politics,  which  are  of  this  world,  and  not  of  the  next. 
He  is  peculiarly  wanted  at  this  moment  at  St. 
Stephen's,  where  a  disease  worse  than  paralysis  has 
seized  on  the  legislative  body.  If  the  corpse  can  be 
revivified,  he  is  the  man  to  do  it ;  and  Northampton  has 
deserved  well  of  the  country  at  large  in  securing  his 
return,  should  we  even  take  no  higher  ground  than 
this,  that  desperate  diseases  require  desperate  remedies. 


162       EMINENT  LIBERALS   IN   PABLIAMENT. 

I  am,  moreover,  bound  to  say  this  in  favor  of  Mr. 
Bradlaugh  as  a  politician,  that  in  all  my  experience  I 
have  never  known  him  take  the  wrong  side  on  any  pub- 
lic question.  And  what  he  has  been  in  the  past  he  will 
be  in  the  future.  He  could  not  now  betray  the  people 
though  he  were  to  try.  It  is  a  disgrace  to  an}'  system 
of  government  pretending  to  be  representative  that  the 
acknowledged  chief  of  militant  English  republicanism, 
and,  what  is  of  less  consequence,  of  organized  secular- 
ism, should  have  so  long  been  excluded  from  the  legis- 
lature of  a  country  which  he  has  done  so  much  by 
ceaseless  toil  to  preserve  from  sinking  into  political 
apathy.  A  better  plea  than  the  protracted  exclusion 
of  Mr.  Bradlaugh  from  the  House  of  Commons  could 
not  be  adduced  in  favor  of  Mr.  Hare's  scheme  of  pro- 
portional representation. 

It  remains  to  glance,  however  briefly,  at  Mr.  Brad- 
laugh's  published  writings.  These  consist  chiefly  of 
theological  and  political  essays.  Of  the  former,  the 
philosophical  or  expositional  portion  is,  for  a  very 
different  reason,  about  as  worthless  as  those  of  Mr. 
Spurgeon  ;  while  the  historical  —  as,  for  example,  the 
lives  of  David,  of  Jacob,  and  Jonah  —  is,  to  say  the  least, 
very  amusing,  though  I  should  scarcely  have  thought 
the  game  worth  the  candle.  Of  his  political  works,  on 
the  other  hand,  all  are  accurate  and  of  immediate  in- 
terest. "Hints  to  Emigrants  to  the  United  States," 
in  particular,  no  intending  emigrant  should  be  without. 
It  is  a  plain,  unvarnished  tale,  told  by  the  most  compe- 
tent and  impartial  observer  who  has  yet  applied  his 
mind  to  this  important  subject.  His  sketches  of  Crom- 
well and  Washington,  though  biography  is  by  no  means 
his  forte,  display  statesmanlike  insight.  I  conclude 
with  the  words  of  final  "  Contrast :  "  — 


CHARLES   BRADLAUGH.  163 

"  A  fitting  emblem  for  Oliver  Cromwell  la  presented 
by  the  grandly  glorious  western  sunset.  Still  mighty 
in  the  fierceness  of  its  rays,  few  eyes  can  look  steadily 
into  the  golden  radiance  of  that  evening  sun :  the 
strongest  must  lower  their  glances,  dazzled  by  its  bril- 
liance. Every  cloud  is  rich  with  ruddy  gilding,  as  if 
the  mere  presence  of  that  sun  made  glorious  the  very 
path  it  trod.  And  yet,  while  one  looks,  the  tints 
deepen  into  scarlet,  crimson,  purple,  as  though  that 
sun  had  been  some  mailed  warrior,  who  had  gained  his 
grand  pre-eminence  by  force  of  steel,  and  had  left  a 
bloody  track  to  mark  his  steps  to  power.  And,  even 
while  you  pause  to  look,  the  thick  dark  veil  of  night 
falls  over  all,  with  a  blackness  so  cold,  complete,  and 
impenetrable,  as  to  make  you  almost  doubt  the  reality 
of  the  mighty  magnificence  which  j'et  has  scarcel}^ 
ceased.  In  the  eventide  of  his  life's  day  such  a  sun 
was  Cromwell.  Few  men  might  look  him  fairly  in  the 
face  as  peers  in  strength.  His  presence  gives  a  glory 
to  the  history  page  which  gilds  the  smaller  men  whom 
he  led.  And  jet  Tredah  and  Worcester,  Preston  and 
Dunbar,  and  a  host  of  other  encrimsoned  clouds  compel 
us  to  remember  how  much  the  sword  was  used  to  carve 
his  steps  to  rule.  And  then  comes  the  night  of  death, 
—  so  thickly  black,  that  even  the  grave  cannot  protect 
Cromwell's  bones  from  the  gibbet's  desecration.  And 
not  unfittingly  might  the  sunrise,  almost  without  twi- 
light, in  the  same  land,  do  service  as  emblem  for 
George  Washington.  He  must  be  a  bold  man  who,  in 
the  mists  and  chills  of  the  dying  night,  not  certain  of 
its  coming,  would  dare  to  watch  for  the  rising  sun. 
And  yet,  while  he  watches,  the  silver  raj's,  climbing 
over  the  horizon's  hill,  shed  light  and  clearness  round  ; 


164       EMINENT  LIBERALS  •IN   PARLIAMENT. 

and  soon  a  golden  warmth  breathes  life  and  health  and 
beauty  into  blade  and  bud,  giving  hope  of  the  meridian 
splendor  soon  to  come.  George  Washington  was  the 
morning  sun  of  a  day  whose  noontide  has  not  yet  been 
marked,  —  a  day  of  libert}^  rendered  more  possible  now 
that  slavery's  cloud  no  longer  hides  the  sun  ;  a  day  the 
enduring  light  of  which  depends  alone  on  the  honest 
republicanism  of  those  who  now  dwell  in  that  land 
where  Washington  was  doorkeeper  in  Liberty's  temple." 


EMINENT  LIBERALS 

OUT  OF  PAELIAMEa"T. 


EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT  OF 
PARLIAMENT. 


I. 

JOHN  MORLEY. 


"  He  was  a  scholar,  and  a  ripe  and  good  one, 
Exceeding  wise,  fair  spoken,  and  persuading." 

OF  all  Swift's  bitter  sajdngs,  the  bitterest,  perhaps, 
was  his  observation  that  mankind  are  about  as 
well  fitted  for  flying  as  for  thinking.  If  this  be  true,  — 
and  it  is  not  necessary  to  be  much  of  a  misanthrope  to 
admit,  that,  generally  speaking,  the  human  mind  is  a 
very  imperfect  instrument,  —  nothing  can  be  more  de- 
plorable than  the  slight  esteem  in  which  the  ablest 
thinkers  are  held  by  the  majority  of  English  electors. 

"  Thirty  millions  of  people,  mostly  fools,"  and  with- 
out so  much  as  the  capacity  to  discern  the  importance 
of  putting  the  helm  of  the  state  into  the  hands  of  the 
least  foolish !  Howbeit,  the  phenomenon  is  not  new. 
"  There  was  a  little  city,  and  few  men  within  it;  and 
there  came  a  great  king  against  it,  and  besieged  it,  and 
built  great  bulwarks  against  it.  Now,  there  was  found 
in  it  a  poor  wise  man,  and  he  by  his  wisdom  delivered 
the  city  ;  yet  no  man  remembered  that  same  poor  man." 
The  true  "saviours  of  society"  are,  after  all,  its  ori- 
ginal thinkers.     Of  these  England  has  at  no  time  been 

167 


168    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OF  PARLIAMENT. 

without  her  share  ;  and,  in  her  treatment  of  them,  politi- 
cally speaking,  she  has  walked  with  remarkable  fidelity 
in  the  footsteps  of  the  men  of  "  the  little  cit3^"  Wit- 
ness Mill  and  Westminster.  Westminster,  in  a  moment 
of  illumination,  elected  as  her  representative  in  Parlia- 
ment the  greatest  political  thinker  in  the  kingdom,  but 
soon  felt  the  honor  she  had  thus  done  herself  more  than 
she  could  bear,  and  returned  in  haste  to  her  vomit.  In 
no  other  civilized  country  except  England  could  such  a 
man  have  been  excluded  for  any  length  of  time  from 
the  national  councils.  In  France  half  a  dozen  signed 
articles  would  probabl}'  have  brought  him  about  as  many 
offers  of  seats  in  the  legislature,  while  in  the  United 
States  he  would,  to  a  certainty,  have  been  made  an 
ambassador  of  the  first  rank.  Even  Spain  values  her 
Castelars  and  Pi  y  Margalls.  England  alone  keeps  on, 
if  not  absolutel}^  stoning  the  prophets,  at  least  studi- 
ously neglecting  them.  The  result  we  ^ee  in  the  heavy 
arrears  of  domestic  legislation,  the  helplessness  and 
criminality  of  our  diplomacy  abroad,  and,  worse  than 
aU,  the  disgust  with  representative  institutions  which  a 
Parliament  of  intellectual  imbeciles  is  sure,  sooner  or 
later,  to  inspire. 

That  so  distinguished  an  authority  as  Mr.  Morley, 
on  nearly  every  one  of  the  great  questions  —  political 
and  ethical  —  which  agitate  modern  society,  should 
never  yet  have  found  a  place  at  St.  Stephen's  is  a 
standing  impeachment  of  the  political  sagacity  of  popu- 
lar constituencies.  And  it  would  be  an  additional  cause 
for  rejoicing  if  a  scholar  and  a  gentleman  like  Mr.  Mor- 
ley could  be  made  to  replace  one  or  other  of  the  comipt 
ring  of  ignorant,  vainglorious,  aldermanic  gluttons  who 
have  taken  so  many  of  the  London  constituencies  cap- 


JOHN  MORLEY.  169 

tive.  The  contrast  of  political  type  would  be  sharp 
and  salutary,  and  an  important  outpost  of  the  city 
Tammany  might  thus  be  carried.  Westminster,  after 
discarding  Mr-  Mill,  was  hardly  entitled  to  have  it 
placed  in  her  power  to  reject  the  greatest  of  his  disci- 
ples. 

As  in  the  case  of  most  speculative  writers,  the  story 
of  Mr.  Morley's  life  is  exceedingly  simple,  —  almost 
necessarily  an  autour  de  ma  chambre  affair.  His  life  is 
in  his  books,  which  have  influenced  the  thoughts  of 
many  who  have  never  read  them.  He  was  born  at 
Blackburn  in  December,  1838,  the  son  of  a  physician 
in  good  practice.  The  father  set  great  store  by  learning, 
was  somewhat  eccentric,  and  a  not  wholly  judicious 
parent.  As  might  be  expected  in  such  circumstances, 
the  future  editor  of  "  The  Fortnightly"  went  the  regu- 
lar round  of  school,  college,  and  bar.  He  was  educated 
at  Cheltenham  College,  whence  he  proceeded  to  Oxford, 
where  he  graduated  in  1859.  Subsequently  he  kept 
terms  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  was  duly  "called"  to  the 
bar  by  that  honorable  society,  but  never  practised. 

It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  all  this  time  Mr. 
Morley  showed  no  particular  aptitude  or  even  liking  for 
study.  He  who  has  since  dug  so  sedulously  about  the 
very  roots  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,  among  the  primarj' 
conceptions  of  the  human  race,  he  who  is  now  in  the  very 
vanguard  of  "  free  thought,"  was  at  college  something 
of  a  mooning  "  Evangelical."  Who  in  this  mysterious 
world  can  foresee  himself?  What  a  contrast,  for  exam- 
ple, is  here  to  the  experience  of  his  friend  Mill,  whose 
old  pagan  father,  James,  is  credibly  said  to  have  im- 
parted to  him  when  an  urchin  the  somewhat  startling 
intelligence  that  there  is  no  God,  coupled  with  a  prudent 


170    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT   OF  PARLIAMENT. 

injunction  to  Iceep  the  information  to  himself !  Yet  John 
Stuart  Mill,  if  he  had  lived  much  longer,  was  apparently 
bidding  fair  to  take  a  high  place,  not,  certainly,  among 
orthodox  believers,  but  among  the  worthies  of  the  Uni- 
tarian calendar.  Most  powerful  intellects  are  either 
religious  or  religiously  anti-religious,  superstitious  or 
superstitiously  anti-superstitious.  Mr.  Morley  belongs 
to  the  latter  categorj',  and  the  fact  is  not  inexplicable. 
At  a  certain  period  of  j^outh,  when  the  passions  are 
strong  and  reflection  is  weak,  religious  emotions  very 
frequently  come  in  —  and  come  in  opportunely  —  to 
supply  the  restraining  influence  of  reason.  When  they 
are  no  longer  needed,  they  die  out ;  and,  if  they  have 
been  very  fervid,  the  more  ingenuous  order  of  minds  is 
but  too  apt  to  resent  them  as  idle  delusions,  and  to  rush 
into  opposite  extremes.  Weaker  and  less  ingenuous 
natures  profess  to  feel  them  after  they  have  ceased  to 
influence,  and  so  become  religious  hj-pocrites.  The 
transition  is  not  easy  to  make,  and  I  am  not  sure  that 
Mr.  Morley  has  been  quite  successful  in  the  operation. 
Throughout  his  writings,  with  all  their  patient  truth- 
fulness and  candor,  I  think  I  can  discern  a  certain 
undercurrent  of  unconscious  bias  on  the  question  of 
religion,  as  if  the  pendulum  of  reason  had  swung  back 
with  such  violence  as  to  become  slightly  overbalanced. 
Unlike  Mill,  who  approached  the  subject  from  a  unique 
stand-point  of  impartiality,  he  makes  at  once  too  much 
and  too  little  of  the  theme.     But,  of  this,  more  anon. 

In  1860  Mr.  Morley  commenced  his  career  as  a  jour- 
nalist and  man  of  letters,  and  from  the  fii'st  he  laid  the 
hand  of  a  master  on  whatever  he  touched.  His  earliest 
contributions  were  to  "  The  Leader,"  then  an  organ  of 
advanced  Liberalism,  of  which  George  Henry  Lewes 


JOHN  MORLEY.  171 

was  the  first  editor.  He  worked  with  a  will,  and  soon 
became  known  to  those  whose  business  it  is  to  gauge 
intellectual  capacity.  In  1863  he  joined  the  staff  of 
"The  Saturday  Review,"  on  which  he  remained  for 
five  or  six  years.  During  that  period  he  had  for  col- 
laborateurs  three  of  the  most  formidable  intellectual 
gladiators  in  England;  viz.,  Sir  James  Fitzjames 
Stephen,  Sir  WUliam  Vernon  Harcourt,  and  Sir  Henry 
Maine. 

"  Tis  heavy  odds  against  the  gods 
When  they  will  match  with  Myrmidons." 

But  Mr.  Morley  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  Many  of 
his  "  vSaturdaj""  Review"  articles  were  characterized  by 
striking  originality  of  thought  and  fearlessness  of  ex- 
pression. One  in  particular,  entitled  "New  Ideas," 
made  so  deep  an  impression  on  ]Mr.  John  Stuart  Mill, 
that  he  wrote  to  a  friend  anxiously  inquiring  who  the 
author  might  be ;  and  thus  were  laid  the  foundations 
of  a  lifelong  friendship  of  no  ordinary  intimacy  and 
reciprocal  esteem.  I  know  hardly  any  thing  finer  in 
prose  than  the  reverence,  without  obsequiousness,  which 
pervades  Mr.  Morley's  article  on  the  death  of  MiU.  It 
is  tUe  very  poetry  of  a  manly  sorrow.  "  The  nightin- 
gale which  he  longed  for  fiUs  the  darkness  with  music, 
but  not  for  the  ear  of  the  dead  master :  he  rests  in  the 
deeper  darkness  where  the  silence  is  unbroken  forever. 
We  maj'  console  ourselves  with  the  reflection  offered  by 
the  dying  Socrates  to  his  sorrowful  companions :  He 
who  has  arrayed  the  soul  in  her  own  proper  jewels  of 
moderation  and  justice  and  courage  and  nobleness  and 
truth  is  ever  ready  for  the  joumej'  when  his  time  comes. 
We  have  lost  a  great  teacher  and  example  of  knowledge 


172    EMINENT   LIBEEALS  OUT   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

and  virtue  ;  but  men  will  long  feel  the  presence  of  his 
character  about  them,  making  them  ashamed  of  what 
is  indolent  or  selfish,  and  encouraging  them  to  all  dis- 
interested labor,  both  in  trying  to  do  good  and  in  trying 
to  find  out  what  the  good  is,  which  is  harder." 

Ever  ready  to  do  battle  in  the  front  rank  of  Liberal- 
ism, Mr.  Morley  chivalrously  undertook  to  edit  "  The 
Morning  Star "  at  a  time  when,  for  reasons  chiefly 
connected  with  the  commercial  management,  success 
was  no  longer  possible.  Through  no  fault  of  his,  it  was 
permitted  to  expire,  and  Radicalism  thus  lost  a  most 
faithful  and  competent  advocate.  From  that  day  till 
the  moment  when  he  recently  assumed  the  editorship 
of  "  The  Pall  Mall  Gazette,"  that  loss  remained  unre- 
paired, and  it  has  been  one  of  no  ordinary  seriousness 
to  the  party  and  to  the  country ;  for  since  that  time 
metropolitan  Radicalism  can  hardly  be  said  to  have 
been  represented  in  the  daily  press. 
'  In  1867  Mr.  Morley  succeeded  Mr.  Lewes  in  the 
editorship  of  "  The  Fortnightly,"  and  in  his  hands  a 
hitherto  colorless  magazine  soon  became  the  recog- 
nized medium  of  all  manner  of  new  and,  not  unfre- 
quently,  very  unpopular  ideas.  And  this  bold, 
uncompromising  policy,  I  am  glad  to  think,  has  met 
with  a  gratifying  measure  of  success.  "  The  Fort- 
nightly"  is  a  tower  of  strength  to  Radicalism  in  all  its 
higher  walks,  and  its  editor  is  ever  vigilant  and  resolute 
to  "  hold  the  fort"  against  all  comers. 

In  the  same  year  that  Mr.  Morley  became  the  editor 
of  "The  Fortnightly,"  he  paid  a  short  visit  to  the 
United  States,  and  was  introduced  at  the  White  House 
to  the  then  President,  Andrew  Johnson.  He  did  not, 
like  certain  weak-minded  travellers,  with  whom  we  are 


JOHN  MOELEY.  173 

all  acquainted,  return  professing  to  be  cured  for  life  of 
republican  ideals.  On  the  contrary,  he  came  back 
favorably  impressed  with  the  simplicity  of  American 
official  life,  and  confirmed  generally  in  his  democratic 
83'mpathies. 

In  1869,  at  a  by-election,  Mr.  Morley  contested  his 
native  Blackburn  in  the  Radical  interest,  but  without 
success.  The  "Conservative  working-man"  was 
against  him.  In  certain  Lancashire  constituencies  it 
can  no  longer  be  doubted  that  this  anomalous  being 
exists,  and  exists  in  force.  Conservatism  implies  that 
there  is  'something  to  conserve ;  but  in  these  God- 
forsaken regions  j'ou  have  the  effect  without  the  cause, 
—  men  guarding  rigorously  what  they  never  possessed. 
It  is  as  if  a  slave  with  freedom  within  his  grasp  should 
cling  tenaciously  to  his  chains.  Howbeit,  Mr.  Morley 
made  as  stubborn  a  fight  as  he  did  at  Westminster  at 
the  last  general  election,  and  showed  himself  as  cogent 
with  his  tongue  on  the  platform  as  with  his  pen  in  the 
closet.  He  is  a  most  skilful  and  persuasive  speaker, 
with  hardly  a  trace  of  those  oratorical  defects  which 
generally  mar  the  public  utterances  of  great  authors. 
He  knows  the  difference  between  the  written  and  the 
spoken  linguistic  mould,  and  can  deftly  cast  his 
thoughts  in  either.  Dissenting,  as  he  does,  even  from 
the  most  heterodox  Dissenters,  I  have  yet  heard  him 
speak  with  rare  acceptance  on  a  Liberation  Society's 
platform  to  the  pink  and  flower  of  English  Noncon- 
formity. Such  a  spectacle  of  mutual  toleration  is 
among  the  most  hopeful  signs  of  English  public  life. 

But  it  is  at  home  in  his  literary  workshop  that  the 
editor  of  "  The  Fortnightl}'  "  will  be  seen  to  most  ad- 
vantage.    The  appointments  of  Berkeley  Lodge,  Fut- 


174    EMINENT  LIBEEALS  OUT  OF  PARLIAMENT. 

ney,  are  such  as  to  make  the  mouths  of  more  obscure 
journalists  water.  The  ample  library  looks  out  on  a 
beautifull}'  embowered  lawn,  while  ever}'  domestic  detail 
is  perfect.  A  man  who  cannot  write  well  with  such 
happy  suiToundings  has  hopelessly  mistaken  his  calling. 
And  best  of  all  is  the  frank,  truthful,  earnest  conver- 
sation of  the  host  himself.  There  is  no  evasion,  no 
hedging.  When  I  first  met  him,  we  plunged  right  into 
the  questions  of  Deity,  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
of  the  republic,  of  Robespierre,  of  Burke,  of  his  friend 
Chamberlain,  et  de  omni  scibili,  in  an  hour's  time. 

In  reflecting,  he  has  a  curious  habit  of  listening,  as  it 
were,  to  the  tones  of  some  far-off  voice.  I  could  not 
agree  with  many  of  his  positions,  but  felt  the  greatest 
diflSculty  in  maintaining  my  own.  His  religious  scepti- 
cism is  very  deep  and  subtle.  He  might,  I  dare  saj^ 
if  hard  pressed,  admit  that  there  are  evidences  of 
divine  arrangement  in  the  universe  amounting  to  a  low 
degree  of  probability  ;  and,  as  regards  a  life  beyond  the 
grave,  he  might  go  the  length  of  dreading,  with  Ham- 
let, "  what  dreams  may  come  in  that  sleep  of  death." 
But,  in  any  case,  he  would  turn  away  from  such  con- 
jectural speculations,  and  substitute  social  for  religious 
duties.  This  at  once  raises  the  intricate  question  of 
the  influence  of  religion  on  morality.  Is  the  connection 
necessarj^,  or  accidental  ?  It  would  not  be  difficult,  for 
example,  to  show  that  the  pagan  Cetewayo  was, 
throughout  the  Zulu  troubles,  a  pattern  of  justice  as 
compared  with  our  eminently  Christian  High  Commis- 
sioner, Sir  Bartle  Frere ;  or  that  so  public-spirited  a 
citizen  and  infidel  as  Mr.  Charles  Bradlaugh  would  be 
a  much  more  trustworthy  custodian  of  other  people's 
monej's  than  the  pious  directors  of  the  City  of  Glasgow 
Bank. 


JOHN  MORLEY.  175 

But,  granted  that  a  man's  religion  has  little  or  no 
influence  over  his  moral  conduct,  what  then?  Man 
will  ponder  the  strange  problem  of  his  destiny ;  and 
those  who  believe  that  religion  is  a  mere  mental  in- 
firmity must  be  prepared  boldly  to  sum  it  up  in  the 
terrible  words  of  Richter :  "  Of  the  world  will  become  a 
world-machine,  of  God  a  force,  and  of  the  second  world 
a  coffin."  Such  teaching,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted, 
would  profoundl}''  alter  the  hopes,  if  not  the  moralities, 
of  the  more  energetic  portion  of  the  human  family. 
Burns,  in  his  most  despairing  poem,  sang  — 

"  The  poor,  oppressed  honest  man 
Had  surely  ne'er  been  born 
Had  there  not  been  some  recompense 
To  comfort  those  who  mourn." 

No  comfort,  alas  !  no  recompense.  In  such  sore  plight 
humanity,  I  fear,  would  be  disposed  to  say  with  Marcus 
Antoninus,  "  It  were  well  to  die  if  there  be  gods,  and 
sad  to  live  if  there  be  none." 

With  respect  to  the  question  of  a  republic,  Mr.  Mor- 
ley's  attitude,  as  might  be  expected  in  so  courageous 
a  political  thinker,  is  clearly  defined.  He  recognizes 
that,  untU  the  republican  banner  is  boldly  unfurled,  we 
who  are  Radicals  are  condemned  to  strike  at  phantoms. 
He  is,  of  course,  at  the  same  time,  no  partisan  of  any 
revolution  other  than  a  revolution  of  public  opinion. 
In  his  powerful  treatise  on  "  Compromise,"  he  saj^s, 
"  Our  con\'iction  is  not,  on  the  present  hj^othesis,  that 
monarchy  ought  to  be  swept  away  in  England,  but  that 
monarchj^  produces  certain  mischievous  consequences 
to  the  public  spirit  of  the  communit3^  And  so  what 
we  are  bound  to  do  is  to  take  care  not  to  conceal  this 


176    EMINENT  LIBERALS  OUT   OF   PARLIAIVIENT. 

conviction ;  to  abstain  scrupulously  from  all  kinds  of 
action  and  observance,  public  or  private,  which  tend 
ever  so  remotely  to  foster  the  ignoble  and  degrading 
elements  that  exist  in  a  court,  and  spread  from  it  out- 
waids ;  and  to  use  all  the  influence  we  have,  however 
slight  it  may  be,  in  leading  public  opinion  to  a  right 
attitude  of  contempt  and  dislike  for  these  ignoble  and 
degrading  elements,  and  the  conduct  engendered  by 
them."  This  is  not  the  language  of  saponaceous 
bishops  or  of  turtle-fed  aldermen  ;  but  it  is  "  the  voice 
of  sense  and  truth,"  albeit  it  was  never  heard  at  the 
Guildhall. 

With  nearly  all  that  Mr.  Morley  has  written  on  Vol- 
taire, Rousseau,  Diderot,  Turgot,  and  the  French  Rev- 
olution, I  cordially  concur.  To  Robespierre  alone  I 
think  he  has  done  scant  justice,  while  to  Burke  he  has 
been  more  than  kind.  With  the  impartiality  of  a  judge, 
and  the  insight  of  a  statesman  rather  than  of  a  man  of 
letters,  he  has  succeeded  in  dispelling  much  of  the  ob- 
scurity in  which  Mr.  Carlyle  is  chiefly  responsible  for 
having  involved  the  greatest  movement  of  the  mind  of 
modern  Europe.  Carlyle's  '-French  Revolution"  is 
undoubtedly  a  work  of  genius  ;  but  so  has  a  lurid  "  noc- 
turne * '  by  Mr.  Whistler  been  pronounced  to  be  a  work 
of  genius.  The  trouble  is  that  neither  has  the  smallest 
resemblance  to  the  original.  The  time  is  coming  when, 
it  is  to  be  hoped,  the  English  people  will  have  forgotten 
all  about  the  "  sea-greenness  "  of  Robespierre,  and  re- 
member only  his  unquestioned  and  unquestionable  "in- 
corruptibility."  Mr.  Morley's  objection  to  Carlyle's 
bogey  does  not  lie  in  a  nickname  ;  but  I  think  he  would, 
perhaps,  have  regarded  Robespierre  with  a  kindlier  eye 
if  he  had  not  been  the  author  of  the  dictum,  "  Atheism 


JOHN  MORLEY.  177 

is  aristocratic.  Tlie  idea  of  a  Great  Being  who  watches 
over  oppressed  innocence  and  punishes  triumphant  crime 
is  essentially  the  idea  of  the  people.^' 

Mr.  Morley'  s  admiration  for  Burke  I  am  wholly  un- 
able to  comprehend.  To  bracket  him  with  Miltou  is 
like  comparing  a  penny  whistle  to  an  organ.  Naj', 
those  who  thought  only  of  dining  when  he  thought  of 
convincing  were  not  so  culpable  as  has  been  insinuated. 
It  would  have  been  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  England 
and  of  Europe  if  Burke  had  never  crossed  St.  George's 
Channel. 

As  a  practical  politician,  Mr.  Morley  has  strenuously 
exerted  himself  to  secure  two  great  objects,  —  to  level 
down  the  Church  politically,  and  to  level  up  the  work- 
ing-class socially,  with  a  view  to  unite  the  whole  people 
in  the  pursuit  of  national  as  distinguished  from  sectional 
ideals.  As  president  of  the  Midland  Institute,  in  1876, 
he  delivered  a  remarkable  address  on  "  Popular  Cul- 
ture "  in  the  Birmingham  Town  Hall,  —  an  address 
which  will  be  found  to  embody  opinions  of  the  highest 
wisdom,  and  sentiments  of  the  noblest  aspiration.  It 
ends  thus,  and  with  it  this  notice  must  also  end :  "  When 
our  names  are  blotted  out  and  our  place  knows  us  no 
more,  the  energy  of  each  social  service  will  remain,  and 
so,  too,  let  us  not  forget,  will  each  social  disservice  re- 
main like  the  unending  stream  of  one  of  Nature's  forces. 
The  thought  that  this  is  so  may  well  lighten  the  poor 
perplexities  of  our  daily  life,  and  even  soothe  the  pang 
of  its  calamities.  It  lifts  us  from  our  feet  as  on  wings, 
opening  a  larger  meaning  to  our  private  toil  and  a  high- 
er purpose  to  our  public  endeavor  ;  it  makes  the  morn- 
ing as  we  awake  'to  its  welcome,  and  the  evening  like  a 
soft  garment  as  it  wraps  us  about ;  it  nerves  our  arm 


178    EMINENT  LIBEEALS   OUT   OF  PAELIAMENT. 

with  boldness  against  oppression  and  injustice,  and 
strengthens  our  voice  with  deeper  accents  against  false- 
hood, while  we  are  yet  in  the  full  noon  of  pur  dajs  ;  3-es. 
and  perhaps  it  will  shed  some  ray  of  consolation  when 
our  eyes  are  growing  dim  to  it  all,  and  we  go  down  into 
the  Valley  of  Darkness." 


n. 

ROBERT  WILLIAM  DALE. 

"  "Well  done  I  thy  words  are  great  and  bold: 
At  times  they  seem  to  me, 
Like  Luther's  in  the  days  of  old, 
Half  battles  for  the  free." 

RADICALISM  is  like  a  great  world-haven  which 
many  ships  reach  by  divers  ocean-tracks.  It  is 
a  generous  fruit  which  grows  on  trees  of  many  species. 
The  editor  of  "The  Fortnightly,"  about  whom  I  had 
somewhat  to  say  in  the  preceding  article,  and  the  Mon- 
hearted  pastor  of  Carr's-lane  Chapel,  Birmingham, — 
what  a  contrast !  How  far  apart  their  motives !  how 
closely  allied  their  public  aims  !  The  earnest  ' '  ration- 
alist" and  the  earnest  religionist  are  sworn  brothers 
in  political  conflict,  — the  one,  because,  like  Abou  Ben 
Adhem,  he  is  content  to  be  written  down  simply  "  as 
one  that  loves  his  fellow-men  ;  "  the  other,  because  he 
is  penetrated  by  the  apostolic  conception  that  he  is  a 
"co-worker"  with  his  Divine  Master  in  the  sacred 
cause  of  humanity. 

Mr.  Dale  is  a  political  Christian,  a  sort  of  spiritual 
ultnitarian  of  a  remarkable  type.,  —  the  best  living  em- 
bodiment of  the  traditions  of  the  sect  to  which  Oliver 
Cromwell  belonged ;  not  orthodox  certainly,  as  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  hold  orthodoxy,  but  still,  for  so 
powerful  an  intellect,  strangely  orthodox. 

179 


180    EMINENT  LIBEEAIiS   OUT   OF  PARLIAMENT. 

"I  am  very  sensible,"  says  Swift,  in  his  "Argu- 
ment to  prove  that  the  Abolishing  of  Christianity 
might  be  attended  by  some  Inconveniences,"  "how 
much  the  gentlemen  of  wit  and  pleasure  are  apt  to 
murmiu"  and  be  shocked  at  the  sight  of  so  many  dag- 
gled-tail  parsons  who  happen  to  fall  in  their  way  and 
offend  their  eyes ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  these  wise 
reformers  do  not  consider  what  an  advantage  and  feli- 
cit}"^  it  is  for  great  wits  to  be  always  provided  with 
objects  of  scorn  and  contempt  in  order  to  exercise  and 
improve  their  talents  and  divert  their  spleen  from  fall- 
ing on  each  other  or  on  themselves.  .  .  .  We  are  daily 
complaining  of  the  gi'eat  decline  of  wit  among  us  ;  and 
would  we  take  away  the  greatest,  perhaps  the  onl}', 
topic  we  have  left?"  Well,  if  there  are  any  such 
great  wits  about  who  have  a  desire  to  exercise  their 
talents  in  this  particular  way,  I  should  strongly  recom- 
mend them  to  go  down  to  Birmingham,  and  break  a 
lance  with  the  minister  of  Carr's-lane  Chapel.  He  is 
a  man  of  the  people,  and  will  give  them  a  kindly  wel- 
come. If  they  do  not  find  him  at  home  in  his  formida- 
bly equipped  stud}',  deep  in  the  production  of  some 
systematic  theological  treatise  on  the  Atonement  or  the 
Ten  Commandments,  they  will  be  pretty  sure  to  dis- 
cover him  either  at  a  Liberal  ward  committee,  at  the 
Liberal  Association  Rooms  in  consultation  with  the 
taciturn  strategist  Schnadhorst,  or  haranguing  an  ob- 
streperous multitude  of  electors  in  the  Town  Hall. 
When  he  is  disengaged,  he  will  be  at  their  service  ;  and, 
if  they  get  much  amusement  at  his  expense,  I  wonder. 

A  happier,  heartier  man  than  Mr.  Dale  —  he  dis- 
claims the  "Rev."  as  a  rag  of  priestcraft  —  I  never 
met,  combining  as  he  does  in  no  ordinary  measure 


EGBERT   WILLIAM  DALE.  181 

the  laureate's  desiderata  of  manhood,  —  "  heart,  head, 
hand."  His  practice  squares  with  his  theory  of  life  to 
a  nicety.  His  soul  is  in  his  work.  Like  Cromwell,  he 
prays  to  God,  and  keeps  his  powder  dry.  What  good, 
he  is  never  tired  of  asking,  is  the  petition,  "  Thy  will 
be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,"  if  a  man  is  not 
prepared  at  the  call  of  duty  to  take  off  his  coat  and 
descend  into  the  political  arena  to  wrestle  with  the 
powers  of  Conservative  darkness?  In  one  of  his 
"Nine  Lectures  on  Preaching,"  delivered  as  LjTnan 
Beecher  lecturer  at  the  University  of  Yale,  Connecti- 
cut, —  a  series  of  papers  not  less  distinguished  by  prac- 
tical wisdom  than  literary  merit,  —  he  told  the  students 
of  the  theological  faculty,  — 

"  In  your  pastoral  preaching  you  ought  not  to  omit 
to  illustrate  the  law  of  Christ  in  relation  to  public  duty. 
Perhaps  you  have  sometimes  met  good  people  who  have 
informed  you,  in  a  tone  of  spiritual  self-complacency, 
that  they  have  never  been  in  a  poUing-booth.  They 
do  not  seem  to  understand  that  the  franchise  is  a  trust, 
and  that  it  imposes  duties.  A  secretary  of  state  might 
as  well  make  it  a  religious  boast  that  he  habitually 
neglected  some  of  the  work  belonging  to  his  depart- 
ment. The  duties  of  an  individual  voter  may  be  less 
grave  than  the  duties  of  an  official  politician  ;  but  neg- 
lect in  either  case  is  a  crime  against  the  nation.  I 
think  it  possible  that  the  time  may  come  when  men 
who  refuse  to  vote  will  be  subjected  to  church  disci- 
pline, like  men  who  refuse  to  pay  their  debts.  The 
plea  that  the  discharge  of  political  duty  is  inconsistent 
with  spirituality  ought  to  be  denounced  as  a  flagrant 
piece  of  hypocrisy.  It  is  nothing  else.  The  men  who 
urge  it  are  not  too  spiritual  to  make  a  coup  in  cotton  or 


182    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

coffee.  Although  they  profess  to  be  alarmed  at  the 
spiritual  terrors  of  the  ballot-box  and  of  an  occasional 
hour  in  a  political  committee-room,  they  are  not  afraid 
that  their  spirituality  wiU  suffer  if  they  spend  eight 
hours  every  day  in  their  store  or  their  counting-house. 
Their  spirituality  is  of  such  a  curious  temper  that  it 
receives  no  harm  from  pursuits  —  no  matter  how  secu- 
lar —  by  which  they  can  make  money  for  themselves ; 
but  they  are  afraid  of  the  most  disastrous  consequences 
if  they  attempt  to  render  any  service  to  their  country. 
The  selfishness  of  these  men  is  as  contemptible  as  their 
hypocrisy.  They  consent  to  accept  all  the  advantages 
which  come  from  the  political  institutions  of  the  nation, 
and  from  the  zeal  and  fidelity  of  their  fellow-citizens. 
.  .  .  People  who  are  so  very  spiritual  that  they  feel 
compelled  to  abstain  from  political  life  ought  also  to 
renounce  the  benefits  which  the  political  exertions  of 
their  less  spiritual  fellow-citizens  secure  for  them. 
They  ought  to  decline  the  services  of  the  police  when 
they  are  assaulted ;  they  ought  to  refuse  to  appeal  to 
such  an  unspiritual  authority  as  a  law  court  when  their 
debts  are  not  paid  ;  and  when  a  legacy  is  left  them  they 
ought  piously  to  abstain  from  accepting  it,  for  it  is  only 
by  the  intervention  of  public  law  that  they  can  inherit 
what  their  dead  friends  have  left  them.  For  men  to 
claim  the  right  to  neglect  their  duties  to  the  state  on 
ihe  ground  of  their  piety,  whUe  they  insist  on  the 
state  protecting  their  persons,  protecting  their  propertj^, 
and  protecting  from  disturbance  even  their  religious 
meetings  in  which  this  exquisitely  delicate  and  valitu- 
dinarian  spirituality  is  developed,  is  gross  unrighteous- 
ness. It  is  as  morally  disgraceful  as  for  a  clerk  to 
claim  his  salary  from  his  employer  after  leaving  other 


ROBERT   WILLIAM  DALE.  188 

men  to  do  the  work  for  which  his  employer  pays  him." 
Plain  speaking  of  this  sort  from  the  Carr's-lane  and 
other  Nonconformist  pulpits  of  Birmingham  has  mate- 
rially helped  to  preserve  the  borough  from  the  arrow  of 
Burnaby  which  flieth  by  day,  and  the  pestilence  of 
Jingo  which  stalketh  by  night. 

Mr.  Dale  was  bom  in  London,  in  December,  1829. 
His  early  education  was  received  chiefly  at  a  private 
school  in  Finsbury  Square,  kept  by  a  Mr.  Willey. 
After  a  brief  period  of  probation  as  an  assistant  master, 
he  removed  to  Birmingham  to  attend  Springhill  Col- 
lege, a  training-school  of  the  Congregationalists,  —  the 
religious  denomination  of  his  parents.  Here  he  re- 
mained for  the  whole  curriculum  of  six  yeai*  ;  and  in 
1853  he  graduated  at  London  University,  canying  off 
the  gold  medal  in  the  department  of  philosophy  and 
political  economy.  Among  his  tutors  at  Springhill  was 
Henry  Rogers,  author  of  the  once  popular  work,  "  The 
Eclipse  of  Faith."  Rogers  had  a  fine  literary  taste, 
with  which  he  did  not  fail  to  imbue  his  pupUs.  A 
strong  friendship  sprang  up  between  the  old  man  and 
Dale,  and  to  this  day  the  latter  acknowledges  his  obli- 
gations to  his  master  with  almost  juvenile  warmth. 
Another  remarkable  friend  of  Dale's  youth  was  a  man 
renowned  in  the  world  of  Evangelic  Nonconformity, 
John  Angell  James.  He  was  for  over  half  a  century 
the  pastor  of  Carr's-lane  Chapel,  and  Dale  had  no 
sooner  finished  his  studies  than  he  was  appointed  his 
colleague  and  successor.  James  imagined  that  he  him- 
self was  a  stanch  Calvinist.  But  Calvinism  his  suc- 
cessor could  not  swaUow  ;  and,  shortly  after  his  appoint- 
ment, he  one  Sunday  opened  a  vigorous  fire  on  its 
cardinal  dogma,  and  set  the  congregation  by  the  ears. 


184    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OP   PARLIAMENT. 

James,  appealed  to  by  alanned  church-goers,  magnani- 
mousl}'  defended  his  colleague. 

"  He  is  a  young  man,"  he  said ;  "  but  the  root  of 
the  matter  is  in  him.  Wait:  you  will  see."  They 
waited,  but  did  not  see ;  for  the  young  man  hardened 
his  heart,  and  to  this  day  repudiates  the  doctrine  which 
"  sends  ane  to  heaven  and  ten  to  hell,  a'  for  Thy  glory,' ' 
as  unscriptui'al  and  revolting.  James  himself  had  a 
naive  excuse  for  practically  banishing  it  from  his 
preaching.  "  Ah,  well ! "  he  would  say,  "you  see  the 
Scriptures  don't  say  much  about  it." 

In  relation  to  eternal  punishment,  Mr.  Dale's  position 
is  that  of  an  exegetical  Darwin.  He  believes  that 
hereafter  the  spiritually  fittest  will  alone  ultimately  sur- 
vive. With  him  the  spiritual,  and  not  the  material,  is  the 
real.  There  is  a  Light  which  lighteth  every  man  that 
cometh  into  this  world,  be  he  Jew  or  Gentile,  Christian 
or  pagan.  It  is  a  plastic  theory,  of  which  much  may 
be  made  by  a  humane  mind.  Accordingly,  Mr.  Dale 
is  a  very  cosmopolitan  sort  of  Christian.  He  is  a  strong 
admirer  of  Mr.  Moody,  of  Moody  and  Sankey  fame ; 
and  he  is  a  sworn  friend,  at  the  same  time,  of  Mi*. 
Crosskey,  the  leading  Unitarian  heresiarch  of  Birming- 
ham. 

*'  Of  old  things  all  are  over-old, 

Of  good  things  none  are  good  enough; 
He'll  show  that  he  can  help  to  frame 
A  Church  of  better  stuff," 

The  Carr's-lane  congregation  consists  of  over  fifteen 
hundred  "  souls,"  though  I  fear  their  pastor  counts 
them  as  frequently  by  "  votes."  They  are  largely 
composed  of  working-men  and  small  tradesmen,  —  near- 
ly all  Liberals.     A  sprinkling  are  quasi-Conservatives  ; 


ROBERT   WILLIAM   DALE.  186 

among  the  latter  a  wealthy  alderman,  about  whom  Mr. 
Dale  tells  with  glee  how  he  described  one  of  his  special 
expositions  of  Christian  truth  as  "  a  brilliant  farrago  of 
democratic  nonsense." 

And  this  has  struck  me  as  a  peculiar  feature  of  Bir- 
mingham Radicalism.  It  is  intense,  without  being  bit- 
ter or  personally  rancorous.  It  may  be  different  in  the 
actual  throes  of  an  election  contest,  which  I  have  never 
witnessed  ;  but  ordinarily  there  is  a  gratifying  exhibition 
of  mutual  respect  among  political  opponents.  There 
is,  at  all  events  in  the  Dale  family,  a  kindly  tendency 
to  regard  a  Torj'  as  an  "  undeveloped  Liberal,"  who  will 
do  better  b}'  and  b}'.  The  political  evangel,  like  the 
religious,  is  not  completeh'  closed  to  any. 

I  shall  never  forget  my  first  impression  of  the  Dale 
household.  A  ward  election  was  impending  at  the  time  ; 
and  Mrs.  Dale,  a  lady  not  less  remarkable  than  her 
husband  for  vigor  of  mind  and  public  spirit,  was  in  the 
thick  of  it  canvassing  the  women  electors,  note-book 
in  hand,  as  if  the  salvation  of  the  borough  depended 
on  the  issue.  I  had  always  regarded  canvassing  as  more 
or  less  demoralizing  work ;  but  it  depends  largely  on  the 
spirit  in  which  it  is  conducted.  Mrs.  Dale  was  a  model 
canvasser,  using  no  argument — even  with  the  most 
ignorant  —  which  did  not  appeal  to  their  better  reason. 
The  result  was  mutually  beneficial.  The  accomplished 
lady  had  her  sjnnpathies  with  the  poor  braced,  and  her 
knowledge  of  their  wants  extended ;  while  her  less 
fortunate  sisters  had  their  political  education,  to  some 
extent  at  least,  improved  by  coming  in  contact  with  a 
superior  mind.  The  interest  taken  in  politics  by  the 
youngest  members  of  the  family,  hardly  in  their  teens, 
would  have  been  comical  if  it  had  not  been  so  genuine 
and  intelligent. 


186    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OF  PARLIAMENT. 

The  political  soundness  of  Birmingliam  Mr.  Dale 
traces  back  to  the  old  Dr.  Priestle^^  leaven,  which  is  still 
at  work  in  the  community.  The  good  which  that  great 
man  did  has  not  been  interred  with  his  bones.  The 
Tor}'  mob  of  his  day  stoned  him  ;  but  the  present  gen- 
eration has  built  him  a  worthy  sepulchre.  The  solidarity 
of  the  Birmingham  Liberal  vote  is  less  easy  to  account 
for.  Mr.  Dale  thinks  the  large  number  of  small  em- 
ployers of  labor,  who  are  only  a  few  degrees  removed 
from  the  condition  of  their  employes,  has  much  to  do 
with  it ;  and  he  is  probably  right.  There  is  more  of 
what  the  French  call  egalite  in  Birmingham  than  in  any 
other  town  in  England.  No  doubt  there  are  snobs 
there  as  elsewhere  ;  but  I  have  not  had  the  misfortune 
to  meet  them.  Rich  men  like  Mr.  Chamberlain  are 
devoted  to  Radical  principles,  and  that  sets  the  fashion. 
Given,  moreover,  culture  and  religion  on  the  same  side, 
and  the  worst  Conservative  foe  that  remains  to  be  over- 
come is  ignorance. 

This  last-named  obstacle  to  the  triumph  of  Radical- 
ism Mr.  Dale  has  set  himself  vigorously  to  combat. 
He  was  one  of  the  most  strenuous  champions  of  the 
famous  National  Education  League,  which*  had  for  its 
object  the  complete  separation  of  religious  from  secular 
instruction  in  board  schools.  To  seek  to  disestablish 
religion  in  the  church,  and  to  hasten  to  establish  it  in 
the  school,  did  not  seem  to  some  Nonconformists  too 
glaring  an  inconsistency.  The  minister  of  Carr's  Lane 
thought  otherwise,  and  was  returned  at  the  first  school- 
board  election  in  the  purely  "  secular"  interest,  along 
with  Chamberlain,  Dawson,  Wright,  Dixon,  and  Vince. 
They  were  in  a  minority  on  account  of  the  inexperience 
of  the  party  managers  in  working  the  cumulative  vote. 


ROBERT   WILLIAM  DALE.  187 

At  the  ensuing  election,  however,  they  succeeded  in 
securing  a  bare  majority  ;  and  public  education  in  Bir- 
mingham was  "secularized"  at  a  blow.  Since  then, 
alas  !  there  has  been  a  certain  retrogression. 
'  The  board,  which  consists  of  fifteen  members,  is 
subdivided  into  five  committees,  —  Finance,  Education 
and  School  Management,  Sites  and  Buildings,  General 
Purposes,  and  Night  Schools  ;  and  it  requires  no  small 
amount  of  skilful  manipulation  to  supply  each  of 
these  with  a  Liberal  chairman.  Mr.  Dale  has  acted  as 
chairman  of  the  hardest-worked  of  all  the  committees  ; 
viz..  Education  and  School  Management.  He  is, 
moreover,  under  the  new  government  scheme  for  the 
better  conduct  of  the  grammar-school  with  its  large 
revenues,  a  governor ;  having  been  appointed  to  that 
honorable  oflSce  by  the  University  of  London.  But, 
though  the  School  Board  of  Birmingham  has  discharged 
its  duties  with  exemplary  efflciencj^  Mr.  Dale  is 
opposed,  on  principle,  to  the  multiplication  of  such 
authorities.  He  would  strengthen  the  local  parliament, 
the  Birmingham  Town  Council,  and  place  every  civic 
interest  in  its  keeping.  The  corporation  already  man- 
ages the  gas  and  water  supplies,  and  Mr.  Dale  would 
not  shrink  from  charging  it  with  the  control  of  educa- 
tion and  of  the  liquor  traffic  as  well.  I  cannot  but 
think  he  is  right.  Every  thing  that  tends  to  fritter 
away  the  authority  and  dignity  of  our  municipalities  is 
an  injury  to  the  public  spirit  of  a  community,  and 
there  is  no  surer  mode  of  bringing  about  a  result  so 
undesirable  than  the  senseless  multiplication  of  local 
boards.  It  is  the  latest  application  of  one  of  the  most 
ancient  maxims  of  tjTanny,  Divide  et  impera. 
There  is  neither  inside  nor  outside  Parliament  a  more 


188    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT   OF  PARLIAMENT. 

eloquent  and  uncompromising  advocate  of  church  dises- 
tablishment than  Mr.  Dale.  lie  approaches  the  ques-. 
tion  primarily  from  the  old  Puritan  stand-point;  viz., 
that  the  State  cannot  rightfully  legislate  for  the  Church. 
The  latter  is  to  the  former  what  the  conscience  is  to  the 
individual.  The  things  of  Caesar  and  the  things  of 
God  must  be  kept  asunder.  Regnum  meum  non  est  de 
hoc  mundo.  The  union  of  Church  and  State  is  a  foul 
liaison,  which  use  can  never  convert  into  just  matri- 
mony. Such  is  his  theory.  Now  for  a  statement  of 
the  practical  disadvantages  of  the  Anglican  establish- 
ment. "  To  a  Nonconformist,"  he  says  in  his  "Im- 
pressions of  America," — a  series  of  admirable  sketches, 
political,  social,  educational,  and  religious,  contrib- 
uted to  "The  Nineteenth  Century," — "travelling  in 
America,  one  of  the  freshest  sensations  arises  from  the 
absence  of  an  ecclesiastical  establishment.  In  England 
I  am  reminded  wherever  I  go  that  the  State  is  hostile 
to  my  religious  opinions  and  practices.  Diocesan 
episcopacy,  in  my  judgment,  deprives  the  commonalty 
of  the  Church  of  many  of  their  rights,  and  releases 
them  from  many  of  their  duties  ;  but  in  every  parish  I 
find  an  Episcopal  clerg3'man,  who,  according  to  Mr. 
Forster's  accurate  description,  is  a  servant  of  the 
State.  Though  I  am  a  minister  of  religion,  the  ci%nl 
government  has  placed  me  under  the  spiritual  charge  of 
the  Vicar  of  Edgbaston :  that  excellent  gentleman  is 
my  pastor  and  religious  teacher,  I  am  not  obliged  to 
hear  him  preach ;  but  the  State  has  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  intrust  him  with  the  duty  of  instructing  me  in 
Christian  truth,  and  celebrating  for  my  advantage  the 
Christian  sacraments.  The  doctrine  of  baptismal  re- 
generation seems  to  me  a  mischievous  superstition  ;  but 


EGBERT   WILLIAM  DALE.  189 

I  cannot  say  this  to  anybody  without  being  in  revolt 
against  a  great  national  institution.  Now  and  then  I 
am  bound  to  liberate  my  conscience,  and  I  tell  my  con- 
gregation what  I  think  of  the  doctrine ;  but  within  a 
couple  of  hundred  yards  there  are  two  national  build- 
ings, in  which,  under  the  authority  of  the  State,  the 
State  clergy  give  thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  the 
I'cgeneration  of  every  child  they  baptize,  and  in  which 
grown  men  and  women  are  taught  that  in  baptism  they 
were  made  members  of  Christ,  children  of  God,  and 
inheritors  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The  law  is 
against  me.  It  tolerates  me,  but  condemns  me.  It 
barks,  though  it  does  not  bite.  It  describes  me  as 
being  among  those  people  in  divers  parts  of  this  realm 
who,  '  following  their  own  sensuality  aud  living  without 
knowledge  and  due  fear  of  God,  do  wilfully  and  schis- 
matically  refuse  to  come  to  parish  churches.'  It  has 
provided  a  Book  of  Common  Pra3^er,  that  '  every  person 
within  this  realm  may  certainly  know  the  rule  to  which 
he  is  to  conform  in  public  worship.'  I  am  permitted  to 
brejik  the  rule  ;  but  the  rule  stands.  It  is  the  policy  of 
the  State  to  induce  the  country  to  accept  or  retain 
religious  doctrines  which  seem  to  me  to  be  erroneous, 
and  an  ecclesiastical  polity  which  seems  to  me  to  be 
unfriendly  to  the  free  and  vigorous  development  of  the 
religious  life.  The  position  of  a  Nonconformist  in  this 
country  is,  to  say  the  least,  not  a  pleasant  one.  His 
religious  work  is  carried  on  in  the  presence  of  a  gov- 
ernment which  condemns  his  creed,  condemns  his 
modes  of  worship,  condemns  his  religious  organization, 
and  sustains  the  authority  of  a  hostile  Church.  In  the 
United  States  I  breathed  fi-eely." 

Mr.  Dale  has  travelled  in  the  East  and  in  the  West. 


190    EMINENT  LIBERALS  OUT   OP  PARLIAMENT. 

He  has  visited  Egypt,  the  Sinaitic  Desert,  and  Pales- 
tine. His  American  wanderings,  however,  have  borne 
the  most  valuable  fruit.  His  published  "Impressions" 
of  the  States  are  the  best  compliment  to  Sir  Charles 
Dilke's  "  Greater  Britain"  with  which  I  am  acquainted. 
They  suppl}^  exactly  the  sort  of  information  one  desires 
with  regard  to  that  mighty  theatre  of  new  social  and 
political  .experiments.  That  so  many  competent  ob- 
servers are  now  turning  their  footsteps  towards  the  far 
West  is  a  subject  for  unqualified  congratulation. 

"  Was  *  The  Mayflower'  launched  by  cowards  ? 
Steered  by  men  behind  their  time  ? 
Turn  those  paths  towards  past,  or  future, 
That  make  Plymouth  Rocli  sublime  ?  " 

It  is  a  Western  and  not  an  Eastern  policy  of  which 
England  stands  most  in  need.  Overthrow  the  aris- 
tocracy of  this  countr}!-,  and  there  will  be  no  insuperable 
barrier  to  a  grand  re-union  of  the  two  great  branches 
of  the  English-speaking  race. 

When  the  pressure  of  Mr.  Dale's  pastoral  and  politi- 
cal duties  is  considered,  the  tale  of  his  literary  labors 
is  immense.  The}'  include  a  "  Life  of  John  Angell 
James,"  a  volume  of  "Week-Day  Sermons,"  "The 
Atonement,' '  which  ran  through  seven  editions  in  four 
j^ears,  "Lectures  on  Preaching,"  "Discourses  on 
Special  Occasions,"  "  The  Ten  Commandments," 
"  Lectures  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,"  an  "  Essay 
on  Lacordaire,"  another  on  "George  Dawson,"  "A 
Reply  to  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold' s  Attack  on  Puritanism," 
"  The  Necessity  for  an  Ethical  Revival,"  &c.  Besides 
contributing  to  "The  British  Quarterly,"  "The  Fort- 
nightly," "  The  Contemporary,"  and"  The  Nineteenth 


EGBERT   WILLIAM  DALE.  191 

Century,"  he  has  acted  as  joint  editor  of"  The  Eclectic 
Review,"  and  for  seven  years  as  editor  of  "  The  Con- 
gregationalist,"  the  organ  of  his  denomination.  In 
regard  to  many  of  these  multifarious  matters,  I  am  far 
from  being  able  to  see  eye  to  eye  with  him  ;  but  he  is 
always  earnest,  honest,  able,  tolerant,  the  steady,  stout- 
hearted friend  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  as  he  un- 
derstands civil  and  religious  libertj'.  In  one  of  the 
h3'mns  compiled  by  Mr.  Dale,  still  sung  at  Carr's-lane 
Chapel,  I  read,  — 

"  Unlearn  not  the  lore  thy  WyclifEe  well  learned, 
Forsake  not  the  cause  thy  Milton  approved, 
Forget  not  the  fire  where  thy  Latimer  bunied, 
Nor  turn  from  the  truth  thy  Cromwell  so  loved." 

To  younger  Radicals  among  us,  who  draw  inspiration 
from  less  venerable  historic  sources,  such  injunctions 
may  appear  superfluous.  But  they  are  still  real  to 
many  of  the  best  men  and  women  in  England,  with 
whom  it  should  be  our  pride  and  pleasure  to  co-operate. 
Mr.  Dale  can  pour  new  wine  into  old  bottles  without 
accident.  He  is  likewise  perfectly  familiar  with  the 
uses  of  the  newest  bottles  of  Liberalism,  as  will  be  dis- 
covered by  any  one  who  cares  to  read  his  presidential 
address  delivered  to  the  members  of  the  Birmingham 
Junior  Liberal  Association  in  October,  1878.  He  is 
one  of  the  most  effective  platform  speakers  in  Great 
Britain,  and  would  make  a  heaven-born  parliamentary 
candidate  for  a  great  popular  constituenc}'.  Is  it  past 
praying  for  that  such  a  man  should  be  translated  from 
Carr's  Lane,  Birmingham,  to  the  wider  sphere  of  use- 
fulness at  St.  Stephen's,  Westminster? 


III. 

JOSEPH  ARCH. 

"  Men  rough  and  rude  pressed  round 
To  hear  the  praise  of  one 
"Whose  heart  was  made  of  manly,  simple  stuff, 
As  homespun  as  their  own." 

SINCE  Wat  Tj'ler  perished  by  the  hand  of  the  assas- 
sin Mayor  of  London,  Walworth,  the  agricultural 
laborers  of  England  have  had  no  more  sincere  and 
capable  leader  than  Joseph  Arch.  To  sketch  his 
career  is  in  a  great  measure  to  depict  the  condition  and 
characteristics  of  his  class,  —  a  numerous  and  important 
section  of  Englishmen,  —  of  whom,  until  quite  recently, 
less,  perhaps,  was  known  for  certain  than  of  Afghans, 
Zulus,  or  the  Ten  Lost  Tribes.  Eor  centuries  they  had 
been  forgotten  helots, — mute  bearers  of  other  men's 
burdens,  —  the  starved,  unlettered,  hereditary  bonds- 
men of  "  merr}^  England."  Their  misery  gave  the  lie 
direct  to  our  boasted  prosperity  and  freedom.  The 
statue  might  be  imposing ;  but  the  feet  were  obviously 
of  clay.  "  And  behold  the  tears  of  such  as  were 
oppressed,  and  the}'  had  no  comforter ;  and  on  the  side 
of  the  oppressors  there  was  power."  Yea,  very  great 
power  and  ver}'  terrible  oppression.  On  the  agricul- 
tural laborer  of  England  rests  to  this  day  the  curse  of 
the  Nonnan  Conquest,  —  the  economic  damnation  of 
192 


JOSEPH   ARCH.  193 

the  "  three  profits,"  —  of  which  our  "  miraculous  Pre- 
mier "is  so  enamoured,  that  he  has  taken  to  demon- 
strating that  the  arrangement  is  a  law  of  nature. 

The  English  laborer  is  the  tnie  servus  servorum,  the 
slave  of  the  farmer,  who  is  in  turn  the  slave  of  land- 
lord and  parson.  On  him  presses  with  crushing  weight 
the  whole  fabric  of  "  society."  He  is  the  subject-mat- 
ter, the  corpus  vile  of  the  great  unpaid.  Where  were 
the  judicial  dignity  of  Justice  Shallow  but  for  the  pec- 
cant Hodge  who  pilfers  a  turnip,  gathers  a  mushroom, 
or  knocks  over  a  hare?  Where  were  the  pride  of 
"  officers  and  gentlemen,"  were  there  no  regiments  of 
full  privates  recruited  from  rural  England  to  command  ? 
On  whom  could  the  so-called  National  Church  unctu- 
ously enjoin  contentment  with  the  condition  of  life 
wherein  it  has  pleased  God  to  place  them,  were  there  no 
serfs  of  the  soil  among  her  presumed  adherents  ? 

Indeed,  for  man}'  generations  the  combination  of 
powers  spiritual  and  temporal  against  the  English  agri- 
cultural laborer  has  been  so  irresistible,  that  the  marvel 
is  he  has  the  smallest  manhood  left.  Reform  after  re- 
form has  passed  him  by  unheeded,  or  rather  has  in- 
creased the  distance  between  him  and  other  classes  of 
the  community.  The  Protestant  Reformation  deprived 
him  of  the  charities  of  the  monasteries,  and  in  their 
place  put  in  force  poor  laws  of  unexampled  barbarity. 
It  found  him  sunk  in  ignorance,  and  it  kept  him  so.  In 
time  reform  bills  came ;  but  who  should  bestow  fran- 
chises on  a  being  so  abject?  Free  trade  gave  a  new 
impetus  to  British  commerce ;  but,  let  the  economists 
explain  it  as  best  they  may,  the  Manchester  cornuco- 
pia never  poured  any  of  its  abundance  into  Hodge's 
lap.     He  was  seemingly  beyond  the  beneficent  opera- 


194    EMINENT   LIBERALS  OUT  OF   PARLIAMENT. 

tion  even  of  economic  laws.  For  five  and  twenty  years 
he  had,  with  more  or  less  variation,  been  going  from  bad 
to  worse.  80  mucli  indeed  was  this  the  case,  that  the 
opening  of  1872  found  the  actual  tillers  of  English  soil 
in  a  state  of  "  depression"  bordering  on  actual  famine. 
Then  it  was  that  the  Agricultural  Laborers'  Union  took 
root,  and  Mr.  Joseph  Arch  first  became  known  to  the 
public  as  the  Moses  who  had  been  raised  up  to  lead  his 
down-trodden  brethren  out  of  the  house  of  bondage. 
Like  his  protot3'pe,  he  might  have  gone  over  to  the 
oppressor,  much  to  his  own  advantage,  in  the  capacity 
of  land  steward  to  a  local  Pharaoh  ;  but  he  had  resisted 
the  temptation,  and,  when  the  hour  struck,  the  man  was 
ready. 

Joseph  Arch,  founder  and  president  of  the  Agricul- 
tural Laborers'  Union,  was  born  in  November,  1826,  at 
Barford,  —  a  beautiful  village,  of  some  eight  hundred 
souls,  about  three  miles  from  the  historic  town  of  War- 
wick. All  about  are  stately  mansions  Of  the  great, 
and  Shakespeare' s  Avon  winds  close  b}'  through  lovely 
meadows  studded  with  majestic'  trees.  Like  himself. 
Arch's  father  and  grandfather  were  industrious,  ill-re- 
quited hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water.  How- 
beit,  — 

"  Let  not  Ambition  mock  their  useful  toil, 

Their  homely  joys  and  destiny  obscure; 
Nor  Grandeur  hear  with  a  disdainful  smile 

The  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor." 

The  life-story  of  Mr.  Arch' s  father  is  short  enough, 
and  sad  enough.  Unlike  his  son,  he  was  a  man  of 
peace,  disposed  in  all  things  to  confonn  to  the  behests 
of  the  powers  that  be ;  but  he  ' '  drew  the  line  some- 
where," and  not  to  his  advantage.     He  was  sufficiently 


JOSEPH  AECH.  195 

ill-advised  to  refuse  to  sign  a  petition  in  favor  of  the 
corn  laws,  and  so  became  by  one  rash  act  a  "  marked 
man,"  on  whom  "quality"  never  after  smiled.  For 
more  than  fifty  years  he  toiled  ;  and,  when  at  last  he  was 
no  longer  able  to  drag  his  weary  limbs  to  the  fields,  he 
took  to  bed,  and  sorrowfull}^  turned  his  face  to  the  wall. 
The  savings  of  a  lifetime  of  painful  industry  and  fru- 
gality amounted  to  four  shillings  and  sixpence !  The 
denoument  I  cannot  better  describe  than  in  the  words 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Attenborough,  whose  faithful  sketch 
of  Mr.  Arch  I  cordially  recommend  to  those  who  may 
wish  further  information  regarding  the  origin  of  the 
National  Agricultural  Laborers'  Union,  and  the  early 
career  of  its  founder :  — 

"The  worn,  crumbling  Arch,  just  tumbling  down, 
was  to  be  propped  up  with  '  good  support,'  and  there 
was  four  shillings  and  sixpence  towards  providing  it. 
'  Give  him  some  beef-tea,  get  him  a  drop  of  good  wine 
if  3'ou  can,  and  take  this  prescription  to  the  chemist's.' 
The  poor  patient's  friends  sat  wondering,  and  weighing 
his  four  and  sixpence  against  the  doctor' s  counsel :  it 
was  nowhere.  The  old  man  wept,  knowing  he  was, 
after  all  his  work,  to  become  a  burden  to  those  he 
loved,  and  who,  as  he  knew,  had  bai'ely  enough  for 
themselves.  '  I  be  afeared,  Joe,  the  parish  will  give 
thee  nothin'  for  me,  be'n  as  yer  a  Dissenter.'  Joe  was 
not  anxious  they  should :  but  Joe' s  wife  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  earning  a  couple  of  shillings  a  week  at  char- 
ing ;  and,  now  that  the  old  man  wanted  nursing,  she  had 
to  give  this  up,  and  stop  at  home.  To  the  guardians 
Arch  made  a  reasonable  offer,  'Gentlemen,  I  don't 
want  30U  to  support  my  aged  father ;  but  if  3'OU  will 
give  my  wife  one  shilling  and  sixpence  towai'ds  nursing 


196    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT  OF   PARLIAMENT. 

him,  now  that  she  is  cut  off  her  charing,  I  shall  be 
much  obliged  to  you  It  isn't  much  ;•  it's  less  than  the 
loss  of  my  wile's  earnings,  and  nothing  towards  the 
expense.'  — '  Certainly  not,  Arch  :  your  father  can  go 
to  "the  house,"  and  you  must  pay  one  and  sixpence 
towards  his  support.'  — '  Good  morning,  gentlemen. 
I'd  sooner  rot  under  a  hedge  than  he  should  go  there.' 
The  old  man  lingered  for  ten  months  ;  and,  during  the 
last  few  weeks  of  his  life,  the  parish,  against  Arch's 
will,  but  with  the  consent  of  his  wife,  allowed  him  one 
shilling  and  sixpence  and  a  loaf !  Then  he  died  ;  and 
his  son  bought  him  a  coffin,  and  hid  him  down  in  the 
earth,  on  whose  broad,  bountiful  breast  there  seemed  to 
be  no  room  for  him.  Fifty  yeai*s  a  worker,  thirty  j-ears 
a  ratepayer,  a  life's  saving  of  four  shillings  and  six- 
pence, a  choice  between  the  workhouse  and  his  son's 
poor  cottage,  eighteenpence  and  a  loaf  for  two  months, 
—  this  was  the  life-story  of  Arch,  senior !" 

Nor  was  this  in  ante-union  dajs  an  isolated  instance 
of  hardship.  On  the  contrary-,  so  far  from  being  the 
exception,  it  was  the  rule.  Work  as  hard  and  live  as 
sparingly  as  one  might,  the  inevitable  goal  was  the 
workhouse.  Wages  would  admit  of  no  other  result ; 
and  this  in  Christian  Jingo  England,  with  its  "  miracu- 
lous Premier ' '  and  its  capacity  for  undertaking  unlim- 
ited campaigns !  The  thought  burns  like  a  hot  iron, 
and  the  warning  word  "  Beware  !  "  rises  to  indignant 
lips,  — 

"  Lest,  when  our  latest  hope  is  fled, 

Ye  taste  of  our  despair, 
And  learn  by  proof  in  some  wild  hour 

How  much  the  wretched  dare."  . 

It  was  not  from  his  father,  but  from  his  mother,  that 


JOSEPH   ARCH.  197 

Mr.  Arch  inherited  his  moral  stamina.  She  was  a  wo- 
man of  well-defined  views  in  religion  and  politics,  lean- 
ing strongly  towards  Nonconformity  and  Radicalism. 
She  could  both  read  and  write,  —  rare  accomplishments 
for  one  in  her  lowly  station  of  life  ;  and,  before  her  boy 
was  six  years  of  age,  he  could,  thanks  to  her  tuition,  do 
likewise. 

Thereupon  he  was  sent  to  the  village  school,  where 
he  remained  for  two  years  and  three-quarters  ;  and  then 
his  education  was  pronounced  complete.  IMoney  was 
wanted  above  all  things  in  the  Arch  household  ;  and  at 
the  ripe  age  of  eight  j^ears  and  three-quarters  young 
Arch  commenced  to  earn  his  livelihood  as  a  bird-scarer 
or  "  crow-kepper,"  with  wages  at  the  rate  of  fourpence 
per  diem.  In  South  Warwickshire  the  living  scare- 
crows are  dressed  as  nearly  as  possible  like  the  more 
common  inanimate  objects  with  which  farmers  are  wont 
to  adorn  their  potato-fields.  They  are  supposed  to  be 
more  eflcctive  than  the  voiceless  stationary  "  keppers," 
inasmuch  as  from  dawn  tUl  eve  they  move  from  field  to 
field,  emitting  all  manner  of  strange  and  alarming 
sounds.  Their  garb  is,  however,  so  grotesque,  that  the 
birds,  it  is  hinted,  draw  near  for  the  purpose  of  laugh- 
ing at  them  ;  and  so  the  provident  husbandman's  lauda- 
ble aim  is  frustrated . 

At  ten  years  of  age  Joseph  was  considered  ripe  for 
the  more  responsible  occupation  of  plough-driving.  All 
day  long  the  poor  lad  would  trail  his  heavily  clogged 
boots  by  the  side  of  the  horse,  to  whose  gearing  he 
would  occasionally  have  to  cling  from  sheer  exhaustion. 
Thereupon  the  furrow  would  bulge,  and  the  incensed 
ploughman,  dexterously  hurling  at  him  a  great  clod, 
would  lay  him  prone,  face  downwards,  on  the  just  up- 
turned soil. 


198    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT  OP  PARLIAMENT. 

Nor  did  material  hardships  constitute  his  sorest  trials. 
As  he  grew  older,  and  entered  on  his  "  teens,"  he  was 
promoted  to  drive  a  team  in  harvest-time,  and  felt  him- 
self every  inch  a  man.  His  employer,  thoughtlessly 
taking  advantage  of  his  youthful  elation  of  spirits,  plied 
him  with  excessive  quantities  of  liquor ;  and,  but  for  the 
peremptor}-  steps  taken  bj'  Mrs.  Arch  to  keep  her  boy 
in  the  strait  path  of  sobriety,  the  apostolate  of  the 
agiicultural  laborers  might  have  been  rendered  forever 
impossible  in  the  person  of  Joseph  Arch.  In  his  six- 
teenth 3'ear  this  kind,  judicious  mother  was  no  more ; 
but  her  admonitions  were  indelibly  impressed  on  her 
son's  mind.  To  his  mother  Arch  ascribes  whatever 
good  he  has  been  able  to  achieve.  At  twent}'^  j'ears  of 
age  Arch's  chai'acter  was  no  longer  to  form.  He  was 
a  local  preacher,  and  earning  the  highest  wages  to  be 
made  as  an  agricultural  laborer;  viz.,  eleven  shillings 
a  week.  Several  eligible  opportunities  occurred  for 
bettering  his  condition ;  but  he  resolved,  instead,  to 
"  stand  by  the  old  man." 

Shortly  after,  he  married  the  daughter  of  a  local  arti- 
san,—  a  woman  of  great  natural  endowments  both  of 
head  and  heart.  Though  uneducated,  technically 
speaking,  she  is  perhaps  superior  to  her  husband  as  a 
speculative  politician.  At  every  step  she  has  stimulated 
his  zeal  by  steady  devotion  to  great  principles,  —  greater, 
perhaps,  than  it  would  naturally  occur  to  him  to  advo- 
cate. In  due  course  two  children  were  born  to  them, 
and  Arch's  wages  unhappily  fell  to  nine  shillings  a  week. 
Four  persons  to  maintain  at  the  rate  of  say  fourpence 
per  head  per  diem !  The  thing,  Mrs.  Arch  declared, 
could  not  be  done  ;  and  so  she  took  a  bold  step.  She 
partially  returned  to  her  ante-nuptial  employment,  while 


JOSEPH  ABCH.  199 

her  husband  took  up  his  tools,  and  scoured  the  country 
in  quest  of  more  remunerative  work  than  was  to  be  had 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Barford.  For  months  he  never 
crossed  his  own  threshold.  In  his  wanderings  he 
encountered  povertj^  beside  which  even  the  Barford 
standard  was  one  of  comparative  plenty.  In  Hereford- 
shhe  he  found  able-bodied  men  with  wives  and  families 
toiling  from  morning  till  night  for  seven  shillings  a 
week.  With  one  of  these  he  once  lodged.  How  the 
wife  and  children  subsisted  Arch  could  never  ascertain  ; 
but  the  husband  fared  thus  :  ' '  Breakfast,  a  dry  crust ; 
dinner,  ditto  ;  supper,  —  the  great  meal  of  the  day,  — 
sometimes  '  scald-chops,'  a  dainty  dish  consisting  of 
broken  bread  moistened  by  pouring  hot  water  upon  it, 
and  sometimes  a  pint  of  cider  warmed  over  the  fire  and 
a  crust  dipped  into  it.  This  from  Monday  till  Satur- 
day, and  on  Sunday  occasionally  a  bit  of  bacon."  He 
beheld  the  tears  of  the  oppressed,  and  they  had  no 
comforter ;  and  he  vowed  in  the  bitterness  of  his  heart, 
that,  if  ever  an  opportunity  should  present  itself,  he 
would  try  to  be  that  comforter.  The  clock  struck  sooner 
than  he  expected.  Presently  he  was  enabled  to  return 
to  Barford  to  undertake  "jobs"  which  required  the 
assistance  of  other  •'  hands."  As  an  employer  he  was 
not  merely  considerate,  but  generous.  His  own  special- 
ty as  an  agricultural  laborer  is  hedge-cutting :  he  is  the 
champion  hedge-cutter  of  all  England. 

All  his  life  Mr.  Arch  has  been  addicted  to  reading. 
His  earlier  studies  were  chiefly  of  a  pietistic  character : 
he  devoured  the  Bible,  the  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  Pike's 
"  Earty  Piet}',"  "Pearson  ou  Infidelit}^,"  et  hoc  genus 
omne.  He  still  preaches  to  vast  audiences,  generally 
twice  and  sometimes  three  times  on  Sundays.     Origi- 


200    EMINENT  LIBERALS  OUT   OF  PARLLAJVIENT. 

nally  a  Primitive  Methodist,  he  has  latterly  laid  aside  the 
shibboleths  of  sect  altogether,  and  taken  his  stand  on 
the  common  ground  of  Christ's  humanitarian  precepts, 
and  the  example  of  his  spotless,  self-sacrificing  life. 
His  experience  as  a  local  preacher  in  addressing  large 
audiences  is  to  a  great  extent  the  secret  of  his  success 
as  a  political  agitator. 

The  National  Agricultural  Laborers'  Union  was  start- 
ed in  this  wise  :  "On  the  5th  of  July,  1872,"  — I  quote 
Mr.  Arch's  own  unvarnished  narrative  of  "The  Rise 
and  Progress  of  the  National  Agricultural  Laborers' 
Union," — "two  farm-laborers,  named  Henry  Perks 
and  John  Davis,  were  sent  by  their  fellow- laborers  from 
Wellesboume,  in  Warwickshire,  to  the  village  of  Bar- 
ford.  The  object  of  the  deputation  was  to  wait  upon 
me  to  ask  me  to  help  them  to  form  a  union.  .  .  .  Fortu- 
nately I  was  at  home  when  they  arrived.  I  went  inside 
to  see  the  men,  who  said,  '  We  are  come  over  to  see 
you  about  our  having  a  union.  We  formed  a  bit  of  one 
under  the  hedge  the  other  day  ;  but  we  can' t  go  on  very 
well  without  some  one  to  put  us  right.  The  men  are 
all  ready  for  it,  and  we  appeal  to  30U.'  —  'But,'  I 
said,  '  do  you  mean  to  stick  together?  '  —  '  Yes,'  was 
the  reply.  '  Well,  now,'  said  I,  '  you  go  back  and 
get  some  of  the  best  men  in  Wellesbourne,  and  ask  Mrs. 
Baker  to  let  3'ou  have  the  club-room ;  and  I  will  be  over 
on  Wednesday  night  at  seven  o'clock.  But,  remember, 
30U  must  be  prepared  for  conflict,  as  the  fanners  will  be 
sure  to  oppose  3'ou.'  The  reply  was,  '  You  come  :  it 
can't  be  worse  for  us  than  it  is.'  "  Thus  simply  was 
the  "  Revolt  of  the  Field,"  the  most  remarkable  social 
upheaval  of  the  day,  commenced.  The  news  spread  like 
wildfire,  and  on  the  Wednesday  night  Mr.  Arch  ad- 


JOSEPH  ARCH.  201 

dressed  over  a  thousand  fellow-laborers  under  a  great 
chestnut-tree  at  Wellesboume.  Meeting  followed  meet- 
ing in  rapid  succession.  Arch  was  ubiquitous  and 
untiring ;  and  at  last,  at  a  memorable  meeting  at  Leam- 
ington, the  National  Union  was  foiTned,  with  Joseph 
Arch  as  chairman,  assisted  by  an  executive  committee 
of  twelve  laborers  and  an  influential  consultative  coun- 
cil, comprising  Professor  Beesly,  Mr.  Jesse  Collings, 
Mr.  J.  C.  Cox,  Mr.  Ashton  Dilke,  the  Hon.  Auberon 
Herbert,  Mr.  E.  Jenkins,  and  others. 

The  moderation  of  the  demands  of  the  union  was  no 
less  remarkable  than  the  violence  of  the  opposition 
offered  by  landlords,  parsons,  and  farmers.  Bishops 
menacingly  alluded  to  ' '  horseponds ' '  as  fitting  recep- 
tacles for  agitators.  Then  followed  the  memorable 
Chipping  Norton  prosecution  and  conviction  of  labor- 
ers' wives,  and  the  important  trial  at  Faringdon  to  test 
the  right  of  public  meeting,  where  Sir  James  Fitzjames 
Stephen  and  Mr.  Jenkins  held  a  brief  for  the  union 
with  such  signal  success.  But  it  is  not  my  business  to 
write  a  history  of  the  National  Agricultural  Laborers' 
Union.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  in  most  instances  the 
immediate  object  of  the  union  has  been  attained. 
Wherever  the  men  have  stood  manfully  by  the  union, 
wages  have  gone  up,  agricultural  depression  notwith- 
standing, from  fifteen  to  twenty  per  cent.  In  South 
Warwickshire  wages,  which  in  1872  stood  at  from 
$2.40  to  $2.88,  now  range  from  $3.12  to  $3.60  a  week. 

Within  the  executive  of  the  National  Agricultural 
Laborers'  Union,  harmony,  I  regret  to  say,  has  not 
uniformly  prevailed.  The  urban  unionists,  who  have 
exerted  themselves,  I  believe,  with  perfect  disinterest- 
edness for  the  emancipation  of  the  agricultural  laborer, 


202    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT  OF  PARLIAMENT. 

have  never  regarded  Mr.  Arch's  lead  with  much  confi- 
dence, and  the  latter  has  not  failed  to  reciprocate  this 
sentiment  of  distrust.  The  reason,  I  think,  is  that  Mr. 
Arch  is  a  thorough  agricultural  laborer,  with  all  the 
virtues  and  some  of  the  faiUngs  of  his  class.  He  has 
seen  so  little  real  generosity  exhibited  towards  the  serfs 
of  the  soil,  that  he  is  somewhat  over-suspicious  on  their 
account.  He  fears  the  Greeks,  even  when  they  bring 
gifts  to  his  clients ;  and  this  attitude,  I  am  bound  to 
sa}",  has  not  always  been  without  justification.  It  served 
him  notably  in  Canada  when  he  came  to  negotiate  with 
the  unscrupulous  ring  of  emigi'ation  crimps  who,  in  the 
fall  of  1873,  formed  the  Macdonald  Cabinet.  Canada 
is,  in  truth,  a  country'  where  it  is  difficult  to  sa}^  whether 
the  rigor  of  the  climate  or  the  cori-uption  of  the  Govern- 
ment is  the  more  unendurable.  If  he  had  listened  to 
the  warbling  of  the  official  sirens,  and  deported  large 
numbers  of  English  laborers  to  the  inclement  shores  of 
Canada,  it  would  have  been  enough  to  wreck  the  union 
forever. 

Mr.  Arch's  sojourn  in  the  United  States  was  less 
satisfactory.  The  New  York  working-men,  intending 
nothing  uncomplimentary,  had  advertised  him  to  speak 
at  the  Cooper  Institute  without  his  consent,  —  more 
Americano.  He  declined  with  quite  unnecessary  blunt- 
ness.  He  did  not  proceed  far  enough  west ;  for  there, 
if  anj'where,  is  it  possible  to  find  the  promised  land 
of  the  English  agricultural  laborer.  On  a  future  torn*  of 
inspection  it  is  to  be  hoped  he  will  repau*  so  great  an 
oversight,  inasmuch  as  it  is  pretty  certain  that  emigra- 
tion has  all  along  been  the  sheet-anchor  of  the  union. 
Under  the  auspices  of  the  National  Agricultural  Labor- 
ers' Union,  and  partly  aided  by  its  funds,  some  seven 


JOSEPH  AKCH.  203 

hundred  thousand  souls  have  left  our  shores,  or  migrated 
from  countr}'  to  town,  since  1872.  At  that  time  mem- 
bers could  with  difficulty  pay  three  cents  a  week  to  the 
Tinion  ;  now  the  subscription  is  five  cents,  and  there  is 
still  a  solid  phalanx  of  twenty-five  thousand  subscribers. 
But  the  good  work  is  hardly  begun.  The  laborer  has 
to  obtain  the  franchise,  and  the  land  has  to  be  com- 
pletely defetidalized  before  Mr.  Arch' s  mission  will  have 
been  fulfilled.  I  have  never  met  a  man  who,  from  per- 
sonal observ^ation,  has  grasped  so  comprehensively  the 
evils  of  our  land  monopoly.  In  his  own  neighborhood 
Mr.  Arch  is  an  encyclopaedia  of  information  regarding 
the  past  and  present  produce  of  the  various  adjacent 
estates.  Within  the  last  twent3^-five  j-ears,  cattle  and 
sheep,  he  will  tell  you,  have  in  most  cases  decreased  by 
more  than  one-half,  without  a  single  rood  of  pasture- 
land  being  broken  up.  Instead  of  "three  profits," 
there  will  haj-dly  be  enough  for  one  if  the  present  sj'S- 
tem  is  to  obtain  much  longer.  Feudalism  is  eating 
itself  up  in  England.  These  be  truths  which  no  one 
could  inculcate  with  greater  authority  at  St.  Stephen's, 
whither  it  is  a  cause  for  profound  regret  he  was  not 
sent,  at  the  last  general  election,  by  the  borough  of 
Wilton  to  explain  his  view  of  the  "  three  profits,"  and 
who  ought  to  reap  them. 


IV. 

EDWARD   SPENCER  BEESLY. 

"  Thou,  Humanity,  art  my  goddess:  to  thy  law 
My  services  are  bound ;  wherefore  should  I 
Stand  in  the  plague  of  custom  ?  " 

LAST  issue,  in  writing  of  Mr.  Joseph  Arch,  I  ran 
no  inconsiderable  risk  of  losing  sight  of  the  man 
in  the  magnitude  of  the  cause  with  which  his  name  is 
identified.  This  week  I  am  in  similar  and  greater 
peril ;  for,  if  it  be  one  thing  to  face  National  Agricul- 
tural Unionism  as  the  subject-matter  of  Radical  effort, 
it  is  quite  another  to  tackle  the  whole  dut}-  of  man  — 
the  religion  of  humanit}'  —  as  revealed  in  the  fulness 
of  these  later  times  by  Auguste  Comte. 

To  those  who  know  any  thing  of  the  writings  of  that 
extraordinary  man,  I  need  scarcely  say,  that,  whatever 
may  be  thought  of  his  ulterior  conclusions,  his  was  one 
of  the  most  powerful,  laborious,  and  all-embracing 
intellects  of  ai\y  time  or  clime.  If  one  cannot  accept 
his  ideas,  it  is  still  necessary  to  revise  one's  own  in  the 
light  of  them  ;  for,  as  ]\Ioses  was  fitted  for  his  mission 
by  being  learned  in  all  the  learning  of  the  Eg^^ptians, 
so  assuredly  Auguste  Comte  was  superlatively  conver- 
sant with  all  modern  sciences, — with  astronomy,  phys- 
ics, chemistry,  biolog}' ;  and,  being  so  conversant,  he 
made,  some  sixtj'  years  ago  now,  a  notable  discovery. 
204 


EDWAED   SPENCER   BEESLY.  205 

He  found  that  each  of  these  sciences  had  in  the  course 
of  its  development  passed  through  three  stages,  —  a 
theological,  a  metaphysical,  and  a  positive.  Take,  for 
example,  life  in  man  and  brute  :  what  is  it?  The  an- 
swer of  primitive  man — the  theological  answer  —  is, 
God  breathed  into  their  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and 
they  became  living  creatures.  Then  came  the  meta- 
phj'sical  explanation :  they  live  because  their  blood  is 
perv^aded  by  a  mysterious  sublimated  essence  called 
"vital  spirits,' '  or  "  physiological  units."  Then  at  last 
the  question  why  they  live  is  given  up  as  hopeless  ;  and 
it  is  only  asked  how  they  live,  and  by  what  means  the 
conditions  of  life  can  be  modified  for  their  profit  or 
loss.  This  is  the  last  or  positive  stage  which  is  ulti- 
mately reached  in  every  science. 

From  1822  to  1842  Comte  was  busily  engaged  in 
verif3'ing  the  above  profound  generalization  in  detail. 
Heureka !  He  had  found  a  master-key  to  the  whole 
historj'  of  mankind,  religious,  philosophical,  moral,  and 
political.  The  foundations  of  a  true  science  of  soci- 
ology might  at  last  be  confidently  laid.  The  gods  and 
the  metaphj'sicians  might  now  be  safelj'',  nay,  advan- 
tageousl}-,  bowed  out  of  the  great  Temple  of  Humanity, 
in  appropriate  niches  of  which  should  be  placed  such 
miscellaneous  benefactors  of  the  race  as  Moses,  Christ, 
Mohammed,  the  Buddha,  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  ;  Plato, 
Socrates,  ^schylus,  Confucius,  Shakespeare,  Dante ; 
Thales,  Archimedes,  Newton,  Kepler ;  Ariosto,  Cer- 
vantes, Moliere ;  Julius  Caesar,  Trajan,  Danton,  and 
a  great  company  of  other  prophets,  who,  in  their  day 
and  generation,  had  worked  hard  in  the  sacred  cause 
of  Humanity,  without,  of  course,  apprehending  very 
clearly  what  they  were  about.      Some  of  them,   no 


206    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

doubt,  had  concerned  themselves  much  about  super- 
naturalities,  immortalities,  and  such  like  childish  things, 
according  as  they  were  in  the  theological  or  metaphysi- 
cal stage  ;  but  they  had  all  agreed  in  this,  "  to  live  not 
for  themselves,  but  for  others." 

Here  then,  is  the  "Open  sesame"  of  the  future. 
The  Pinal's  which  support  the  great  fane  of  Humanity 
are  three,  —  Affection,  Order,  Progress  :  the  first  repre- 
senting the  principle  ;  the  second,  the  basis  ;  the  third, 
the  end  of  the  new  creed.  And  whosoever  builds  on 
any  other  foundation,  let  him  be  anathema  maranatha. 
Not  quite  so  strong  as  that,  perhaps,  but  still  not  far 
from  it ;  for  good  Comtists  attribute  the  svun  of  politi- 
cal strifes  and  social  miseries  to  the  conflict  which  neces- 
sarily arises  from  the  fact  that  large  masses  of  man- 
kind are  some  of  them  still  in  the  theological,  some  in 
the  metaphysical,  and  onl}'  an  elect  few  in  the  positive, 
stage  of  beUef.  Until  all  have  been  brought  into  the 
positive  fold,  wai's  and  rumors  of  wars  are  inevitable. 
Like  other  millenniums,  alas !  that  of  the  positivists 
has  been  postponed  sine  die,  and  to  a  necessarily  dis- 
tant day  too. 

I  should  be  sorry  indeed  if  any  one  were  to  suppose 
that  the  above  is  other  than  the  faintest  outline  of  the 
creed  of  which  the  learned  professor  of  history  in  ITni- 
versit}^  College,  London,  is  so  devoted  and  fearless  an 
exponent.  It  cost  him  ten  j'cars*  patient  study  to 
attain  to  settled  convictions  on  the  subject,  and  even 
yet  he  is  not  in  the  priesthood  of  positivism.  He  is 
only  a  sort  of  lay  deacon,  or  stalworth  doorkeeper,  at 
the  Temple  of  Humanity.  This  being  so,  I  feel  that  it 
is  not  a  little  presumptuous  in  me,  who  have  given  but 
little  attention  to  this  new  and  most  difficult  of  c%dts, 


EDWARD   SPENCEE  BEESLY.  207 

to  attempt  in  any  way  to  pass  judgment  on  it ;  and, 
were  it  not  that  Mr.  Beesly's  political  conduct  and 
historical  writings  have  been  so  directly  inspired  by 
Comtism,  I  should  most  willingly  give  it  a  wide  berth. 
There  is  so  much  that  is  admirable,  and  so  many  things 
at  the  same  time  that  traverse  one's  most  cherished 
opinions, — prejudices,  a  Comtist  would  doubtless  say, 
—  in  the  system  of  Comte,  that  it  becomes  a  matter  of 
no  ordinary  difficult}^  to  re^4ew  Mr.  Beesly's  career, 
simple  as  have  been  the  incidents,  with  impartiality  and 
discrimination. 

Edward  Spencer  Beesly  was  born  at  Feckenham, 
Worcestershire,  in  Januarj',  1831 .  His  father  was  vicar 
of  the  place,  —  a  sincere,  sober-minded  evangelical  of 
the  old  school,  who  kept  up  intimate  relations  with  the 
leaders  of  his  own  partj'  in  the  Church,  and  with  few 
others.  His  son  Edward  he  found  leisure  to  educate 
at  home  till  the  young  man  was  of  age  to  be  entered  as 
a  student  at  nowise  illustrious  "  Wadham,"  Oxford. 
This  home  training  may  iu  some  measure  account  for 
the  fact  that  the  Englishman  who  in  public  life  has 
most  frequently  and  audaciously  made  light  of  the 
tenderest  susceptibilities  of  all  manner  of  reputable 
people  "with  gigs,"  is  in  the  bosom  of  his  family  a 
model  of  gentleness  and  every  domestic  virtue.  At 
"Wadham  College  Mr.  Beesly  was  lucky  in  his  friend- 
ships, having  for  tutor  Mr.  Congreve  (then  the  Rev. 
Richard) ,  and  for  fellow-students  Mr.  Frederic  Harri- 
son and  Mr.  J.  H.  Bridges.  Congreve  was  a  man  of 
admitted  ability,  —  one  of  the  most  accomplished  Aris- 
totelians of  his  day.  Sincere  but  eccentric,  no  one 
was  very  much  astonished  when,  one  fine  morning,  it 
was  rumored  in  Oxford  that  he  had  been  formally  ad- 


208   EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

mitted  into  the  church  of  Auguste  Comte.  In  time  he 
was  followed  by  Beesly,  Harrison,  and  Bridges  ;  Bees- 
I3',  as  I  have  said,  taking  ten  years  to  acquaint  himself 
with  the  evangel  of  the  Parisian  before  relinquishing 
that  of  the  Nazarene.  In  1854  Mr.  Beesly  gi*aduated 
with  honors,  and  was  appointed  an  assistant  master  in 
Marlborough  College.  Subsequently  he  sought  for 
and  obtained  the  position  of  principal  of  University 
Hall,  Gordon  Squai'e,  London,  in  succession  to  Dr. 
Carpenter,  who  had  been  preceded  by  Mr.  Hutton,  now 
of  "  The  Spectator,"  by  the  gifted  Arthur  Clough,  and 
nominall}^  b}'^  F.  W.  Newman,  the  first  principal  desig- 
nate who  had  never  acted.  The  hall  is  tenanted  by 
students  of  all  religious  denominations,  and  no  prose- 
Ij-tizing  is  permitted.  There  is  a  complete  pax  ecde- 
siastica  maintained  at  University  Ilall,  almost  unknown 
in  similar  institutions.  In  1860  Mr.  Beesly  was  ap- 
pointed professor  of  history  in  University  College,  — an 
oflSce  the  duties  of  which  he  was  peculiarly  fitted  both 
by  predilection  and  training  to  discharge. 

The  professor  in  his  class-room  is  always  interesting. 
He  is  unconventional  without  being  familiar,  and  he 
has  a  happ3'^  knack  of  presenting  the  purely  human 
aspect  of  his  subject,  however  far  it  may  appear  to  be 
removed  from  the  domain  of  current  interests,  which 
seldom  fails  to  leave  the  desired  impression.  The 
Comtian  principle  of  the  continuity  of  human  life 
enables  Mr.  Beesly  to  irradiate  the  darkness  of  the 
past  bj'^  the  light  of  the  present  with  no  ordinary  suc- 
cess. The  last  time  I  was  in  his  class-room  (the  class 
is  a  mixed  one  of  3'oung  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the 
propriety  of  whose  behavior  is  a  standing  (Msproof  of 
the  fears  of  timid  moralists),  he  was  comparing  the 


EDWARD   SPENCER   BEESLY.  209 

cardinal  features  of  the  religion  of  ancient  Rome  with 
those  more  particularly  of  Christianity.  The  great 
goddess  of  the  Romans  was  really  Roma,  the  ' '  abstract 
double"  of  the  Eternal  City.  There  was  one  Rome 
built  by  the  hands  of  many  generations  of  Romans,  and 
another  built  up  by  the  imaginations  of  many  genera- 
tions of  Quirites.  This  process  of  creating  a  divinity 
after  their  own  image  did  not  shock  the  Roman  people. 
They  were  in  the  theological  stage  of  development. 
Well,  it  struck  me  very  forcibl}^  that  this  delusive 
object  of  Roman  worship  was  hardh^  less  an  imposture 
than  the  object  of  Comtist  veneration,  —  the  Being  of 
Humanity.  The  Being  of  Humanity  is  the  thinly  dis- 
guised "abstract  double"  of  an  indefinite  number  of 
men  and  women,  past,  present,  and  to  come,  "■  mostly 
fools,"  with  a  considerable  infusion  of  knaves.  I,  for 
one,  absolutely  refuse  to  worship  at  the  shrine  of  such 
a  Mumbo  Jumbo.  Having  been  once  brought  out  of 
the  theological  wilderness  by  a  process  so  painful,  I 
positively  decline  to  be  again  led  back  into  it  by  a 
shabbier  road  than  I  entered  it. 

Of  course  I  shall  be  told  that  I  do  not  understand  the 
Comtist  religion,  or  perhaps  that  I  am  incapable  of  un- 
derstanding it ;  for,  like  all  possessors  of  absolute  truths, 
Comtists  have  a  short  wa}'  with  unbelievers.  My  only 
consolation  is,  — and  I  admit  it  is  a  poor  one,  —  I  am 
still  in  a  majority  in  this  country.  I  do  not  forget,  for 
example,  that  Christianity  was  once  in  a  minority  of 
one  ;  and,  if  the  avowed  English  co-religionists  of  Mr. 
Beesly  number  onl}'  some  sixtj^  or  seventy  souls  at 
present,  I  am  free  to  grant  that  they  have  among  them 
proportional^  by  far  the  best  brains  in  England.  And 
they  are  diligent  in  season  and  out  of  season,  —  zealous 


210    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

in  ever}'-  good  work,  as  they  understand  good  works. 
Mr.  Beesly's  labors  in  connection,  for  example,  with 
the  translation  of  Comte'  s  ' '  Politique  Positive ' '  into 
English,  are  enough  to  make  any  member  of  the  com- 
pany of  biblical  revisers  blush  for  very  shame.  He 
is  likewise  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  columns  of 
"La  Revue  Occidentale,"  the  organ  of  the  orthodox 
positivists,  conducted  by  the  primate  of  the  body, 
Pierre  Laffltte,  —  a  personal  disciple  of  Comte. 

It  may  be  necessary  to  explain  how  it  comes  to  pass 
that  Mr.  Beesly  is  an  orthodox,  and  not  a  heterodox, 
positivist.  The  seamless  coat  of  Comte  has,  alas ! 
already  been  rent.  Dr.  Congreve  has  disavowed  the 
headship  of  Laffltte,  and  so  has  become  schismatic, 
taking  half  of  the  Comtist  Church  in  England  and  its 
dependencies  with  him.  He  has  turned  his  back  on 
Paris,  as  Henry  VIII.  turned  his  back  on  Rome.  He 
has  set  up  an  independent  island  Church,  and  may  be 
regarded  as  a  sort  of  Comtist  Protestant.  On  the  other 
hand,  Mr.  Beesly,  Dr.  Bridges,  Mr.  Harrison,  Mr.  Ver- 
non Lushington,  Mr.  Cotter  Morison,  and  others  still 
remain  Ultramontanes,  repairing  from  time  to  time  to 
Paris  to  engage  in  the  solemnities  which  annually  take 
place  at  Comte' s  old  abode  on  the  anniversary  of  his 
death.  The  house  is  kept  exactly  as  when  the  founder 
of  the  new  religion  died,  and  is  the  sacred  rendezvous, 
the  kaaba,  of  the  faithful.  The  meeting- place  of  the 
orthodox  is  the  Cavendish  Rooms,  Mortimer  Street, 
Langham  Place,  where  a  course  of  lectures  of  an  expo- 
sitional  character  are  delivered  on  Sunday  evenings 
diuing  the  winter  months  by  Mr.  Beesly,  Mr.  Harrison, 
and  other  qualified  laymen. 

It  remains  to  glance  at  some  of  Mr.  Beesly's  political 


EDWARD   SPENCER   BEESLY.  211 

opinions,  acts,  and  historical  writings,  whicli  are  one 
and  all  penetrated  through  and  through  by  the  princi- 
ples and  spirit  of  his  master,  Comte.  They  have  all 
for  their  central  idea  or  governing  principle  the  far- 
reaching  Comtian  dictum,  "  The  working-class  is  not, 
properly  speaking,  a  class  at  all,  but  constitutes  the 
body  of  society.  From  it  proceed  the  various  special 
classes  which  we  regard  as  organs  necessary  to  that 
body."  Woe  to  the  aforesaid  special  classes  if  they 
cease  to  be  necessary  organs  !  Woe  to  Mr.  Gladstone, 
woe  to  Earl  Beaconsfield,  woe  to  Parliament,  woe  to  all 
men  who  are  unduly  friendly  to  special  classes !  Let 
them  but  show  their  baneful  partiality,  and  the  professor 
will  smite  them  with  remorseless  impartiality.  To  him 
the  Trojan  Whig  and  the  Tyrian  Torj^  have  ever  been 
much  alike.  Nay,  he  has  even  been  known  to  speak 
disrespectfully  of  parliamentary  institutions  themselves, 
as  Sydney  Smith  said  Lord  Jeffrey  once  spoke  depre- 
ciatingly of  the  equator.  He  has  scoffed  at  the  respec- 
tability of  our  middle  class,  and  treated  our  greatest 
plutocrats  as  if  they  were  nobodies.  In  all  things  he 
is  pre-eminently  un-English,  affirming,  as  he  does,  the 
immense  superiority  of  Frenchmen  and  French  institu- 
tions over  Englishmen  and  English  institutions.  Eng- 
land' s  function  among  the  nations  is  merel}^  to  play  the 
part  of  the  "  horrible  example."  She  will  do  nothing 
at  home  that  is  not  base  and  hypocritical ;  nothing 
abroad  that  is  not  tj-rannical  and  suicidal.  The  cup  of 
her  iniquities  is  almost  full  to  overflowing. 

Mr.  Beesly  would  give  up  India  to-morrow,  to  say 
nothing,  of  course,  of  Afghanistan.  He  would  make 
an  ample  apology  to  Cetewayo,  and  replace  him  on  the 
throne  of  Zululand.     He  would  surrender  Gibraltar  to 


212    EMINENT   LIBEKALS   OUT   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

Spain,  and  make  a  present  of  Ireland  to  Mr.  Pamell  or 
to  anj'body  else  who  might  care  to  take  it  off  oiu'  hands. 
He  would  concentrate  all  our  military  and  naval  strength 
in  and  around  Great  Britain  ;  and,  having  thus  fortified 
the  island  by  lopping  off  its  rotten  outlying  members, 
the  country  would  be  in  a  position  to  enter  on  the  dis- 
charge of  international  duties  meet  for  civilization, 
conformable  to  the  religion  of  humanity.  England, 
along  with  France,  would  then  be  in  a  position  to  pro- 
tect free  Denmark,  free  Holland,  free  Belgium,  from 
German  or  other  autocratic  aggression  ;  and,  as  oppor- 
tunity occurred,  a  blow  for  the  resuscitation  of  Poland 
might  perchance  be  struck.  The  neo-imperialists,  at 
all  events,  can  hardly  be  expected  to  regard  this  as 
the  "voice  of  sense  and  truth;"  but  it  is  unques- 
tionabl}^  positive  politics  as  understood  by  Auguste 
Comte,  and  his  disciple  is  not  the  man  to  shrink  from 
any  of  the  consequences  of  his  master's  teaching. 

With  respect  to  only  one  point  in  this  programme  do 
I  care  meantime  to  pronounce  an  opinion.  The  Com- 
tists  have  never  ceased  to  protest  against  our  conquests 
in  Hindostan,  and  our  opium  wars  with  China.  Mr. 
Beesly  in  particular  has  lifted  up  his  voice  against 
these  cold-blooded  enterprises,  which  fill  the  mind  of 
ever}^  sagacious  observer  with  the  gloomiest  forebod- 
ings, with  an  energy  that  does  him  the  greatest  credit. 
It  is  one  of  the  saving  graces  of  the  Comtist  creed  that 
it  includes  the  most  abject  sons  of  men  in  the  adorable 
Being  of  Humanity.  They  may  be  in  the  backward 
metaphysical  state,  like  the  Hindoos,  or  in  the  yet 
more  unredeemed  theological  condition  of  the  Zulus ; 
but  they  are  not,  therefore,  fit  subjects  for  Christian 
oppression.     They  are  where  the  most  civilized  peoples 


EDWARD   SPENCER  BEESLY.  213 

once  were,  straggling  weary  and  footsore  along  the 
dusty  highway  of  human  progress,  which  all  must  tread. 
If  they  fall  among  thieves,  it  is  ours  to  play  the  part 
of  the  good  Samaritan,  and  lift  them  out  of  the  ditch 
into  which  the  footpads  have  cast  them.  But  we,  alas  ! 
are  the  footpads.  I  shall  not  speedily  forget  the  right- 
eous indignation  with  which  Mr.  Beesly  recently  spoke 
to  me  of  the  Zulu  war.  He  felt  the  misdeeds  of  our 
representatives  as  a  stain  on  his  personal  honor.  The 
name  of  Frere,  even  more  than  that  of  Ej-re,  ought  to 
go  down  with  infamy  to  the  latest  posterity. 

The  mentioning  of  Eyre  recalls  to  my  mind  an  inci- 
dent in  Mr.  Beesly' s  career  which  brought  down  on  his 
head  an  extraordinary  torrent  of  journalistic  and  other 
invective.  At  a  public  meeting  held  in  connection 
with  the  Broadhead  murders  in  18G7,  he  somewhat 
infelicitously  obsei-ved  that  .E5re  ' ■  had  committed  his 
crime  in  the  interest  of  employers,  just  as  Broadhead 
had  committed  his  crime  in  the  interest  of  workmen." 
The  wealthy  class,  he  argued,  had  approved,  while  the 
working-class  had  condemned,  murder.  This  was 
enough :  he  was  declared  to  have  ' '  apologized ' '  for 
Broadhead' s  crimes,  and  even  to  have  converted  him 
"into  a  hero."  So  far  was  this  from  being  the  fact, 
that  it  was  subsequently  proved  that  Mr.  Beesly  had, 
on  the  first  intimation  of  the  atrocities,  gone  out  of  his 
way  to  urge  the  unions  to  ' '  ferret  out  any  member 
guilty  of  a  breach  of  the  law.  and  drag  him  to  justice." 
This  was,  however,  not  enough.  A  victim  was  wanted, 
and  for  a  time  the  vials  of  class  calumny  continued  to 
be  poured  out  on  the  professor's  devoted  head.  Had 
he  been  a  wea^  man,  he  would  have  succumbed  to  the 
violence  of  the  storm.     As  it  was,  he  stood  erect  and 


214    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OF   PARLLA.MENT. 

immovable  as  a  pillar,  and  the  tempest  graduallj^  died 
away. 

But  the  Broadhead  incident  was  by  no  means  Pro- 
fessor's Beesly's  first  offence  against  society.  On  the 
twenty-eighth  day  of  September,  1864,  he  had  actually 
presided  at  the  first  meeting  of  "  the  International,"  in 
a  room  of  St.  Martin's  Hall,  Long  Acre.  There  Tolain 
submitted  his  memorable  project,  and  Marx,  Ecearius, 
Odger,  Lucraft,  Llama,  and  Wolff  were  named  as  a 
provisional  committee.  Here  at  least  was  one  highly 
educated  English  gentleman  with  the  courage  of  his 
opinions,  whom  no  political  Mrs.  Grundy  could  intimi- 
date. In  1875  occurred  the  iniquitous  conviction  of 
the  five  cabinet-makers  —  Read,  Weiler,  Ham,  Hibbert, 
and  Matthews  —  for  the  offence  of  picketing.  Again 
Mr.  Beesly  came  boldly  to  the  front.  During  the  term 
of  their  imprisonment  he  lectured  at  the  Eleusis  Club 
on  their  behalf.  When  they  were  released,  he  was 
among  the  first  to  welcome  them  at  the  prison-door ; 
and  he  presided  at  the  complimentary  dinner  at  which 
they  were  subsequently  entertained,  supported  b}^  the 
Hon.  L.  Stanley,  Mr.  John  Morley,  Dr.  Congreve,  Mr. 
Ashton  Dilke,  Professor  Hunter,  and  others. 

In  March,  1877,  died  George  Odger,  the  Epaminon- 
das  of  English  politicians.  He  was  interred  in  the 
Brompton  Cemetery- ;  and,  from  a  broken  column  near 
his  grave,  Professor  Beesl}^  pronounced  a  befitting  eulo- 
gium  on  his  career  in  presence  rather  than  in  the  hear- 
ing of  a  countless  multitude.  "George  Odger,"  he 
said,  "  was  not  only  a  good,  but  a  great  citizen,  —  one 
who  put  his  public  in  the  first  rank  of  duties,  and  was 
prepared  to  sacrifice  all  private  interests  to  that  consid- 
eration," —  a  meed  of  praise  not  less  deserved  by  the 


EDWARD   SPENCER   BEESLY.  215 

eulogized  dead  than  by  the  living  eulogist.  There  is 
not,  I  am  sure,  a  more  inflexibly  honest  politician  or 
cultivated  gentleman  in  l^ngland  than  Professor  Beesly. 
But  I  am  bound  to  say  that  I  think  many  of  his  po- 
litical conceptions  are  mistaken.  Like  all  Comtists,  his 
admiration  for  France  is  excessive,  and  he  dangerously'' 
undei'values  the  importance  of  parliamentary  govern- 
ment. I  acknowledge  with  gratitude  the  immense  sac- 
rifices which  the  French  people  have  made  in  the  cause 
of  human  emancipation.     France  is  pre-eminently 

"  The  poet  of  the  nations, 
That  dreams  on  and  wails  on 
While  the  hoxisehold  goes  to  wreck." 

All  the  same  I  cannot  conceive  with  Mr.  Beesly  that 
English  workmen,  as  such,  have  any  very  vital  stake  in 
the  evolution  of  the  social  and  political  life  of  France. 
If  the}?^  cannot,  with  the  aid  of  the  less  selfish  and  more 
intelligent  section  of  the  middle  class,  combine  in  their 
own  way  to  establish  on  the  ruins  of  monarchy  and 
aristocracy  in  England  a  stable  republic,  not  based  on 
birth  and  privilege,  but  on  merit  and  equal  rights,  then 
let  them  throw  up  the  sponge  once  and  for  all,  and, 
betaking  themselves,  not  in  then-  thousands,  but  their 
millions,  to  the  free,  open-armed  United  States  of 
America,  leave  behind  them  a  solitude  wherein  their 
oppressors  raay  meditate  at  their  leisui-e  on  the  con- 
sequences of  their  own  selfishness  and  folty. 

A  word  or  two  on  Mr.  Beesly' s  vigorous  vindication 
of  Catiline,  Clodius,  and  Tiberius,  and  I  am  done. 
To  him  these  besmirched  historic  personages  are  stand- 
ard-bearers of  the  Roman  Revolution,  the  lineal  de- 
scendants of  the  illustrious  Gracchi  and  of  Drusus. 


216    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT  OF  PAIiLIAJMENT. 

According  to  this  view,  Cato  and  Cicero,  Brutus  and 
Cassius,  were  the  Beaconsfields  and  Salisbury's,  while 
the  Catilines  and  the  Clodii  were  the  DUkes  and  Cham- 
berlains of  the  time.  The  cause  of  the  latter  triumphed 
eventually  when  Julius  Caesar  crushed  the  Senate  and 
-V  became  the  saviour  of  society,  — the  great  world-proto- 
type of  personal  rulers.  In  a  sense  the  advent  of  Ro- 
man imperialism  was  a  popular  gain.  It  replaced 
many  t^'rants  by  one.  But  it  gave  the  death-blow  to 
whatever  little  public  spirit  remained  in  Kome,  and 
that  calamity  was  irreparable.  I  grant  the  republican 
oligarchy  was  largely''  comipt  and  oppressive.  Unhap- 
pily, it  never  occurred  to  an}^  one  to  renovate  the 
Roman  legislative  assemblies  b}'  the  admission  of  rep- 
resentatives from  the  provincial  communes.  Repre- 
sentative government  as  now  understood  was  the  dis- 
covery of  a  later  age.  As  it  was,  Cato  and  Cicero, 
Brutus  and  Cassius,  saw  the  image  of  constitutional 
freedom  receding  daj"  by  day,  and  they  clung  desper- 
ately to  her  skirts.  In  such  evil  times  Radicals  became 
Conservatives,  and  Conservatives  ostensible  Radicals. 
Mr.  Beesly  seems  to  me  to  forget  that  even  a  hateful 
middle  class  may  be  crushed  at  too  great  a  cost.  Like 
all  Comtists,  he  is  too  partial  to  able  men  placed  in 
authority  by  brute  masses.  For  my  part,  had  I  lived 
in  the  days  of  Brutus  and  Cassius,  I  am  certain  that  I 
should  have  been  among  the  republican  legionaries  who 
were  cut  to  pieces  at  Fhilippi,  just  as  I  should  have 
been  at  the  coup  d'etat,  or  as  I  should  be  if  ever  M. 
Gambetta,  for  example,  were  to  show  sjTnptoms  of  fol- 
lowing in  the  footprints  of  Napoleon. 


V. 

CHARLES  HADDON  SPURGEON. 

"  God  forgive  me  if  ever  I 
Take  aught  from  the  Book  of  that  Prophecy, 
Lest  my  part,  too,  should  be  taken  away 
From  the  Book  of  Life  on  the  Judgment  Day! " 

FROM  Professor  Beesly's  Comtism  to  the  Rev. 
Charles  Haddon  Spurgeon's  Christianity,  what  a  dis- 
tance to  travel !  INIr.  Beesly  once  somewhat  uncharitably 
accused  Mr.  Gladstone  of  being  more  concerned  about 
his  "contemptible  superstitions  than  about  politics." 
What  would  he  not  say  of  the  views  of  the  pastor  of 
the  Metropolitan  Tabernacle?  You  might  search  the 
whole  world  and  find  no  one  whose  mind  was  more 
thoroughly  under  the  domination  of  theological  ideas 
than  Spurgeon's.  To  a  positivist  the  reverend  gentle- 
man must  appear  like  a  survival,  not  of  the  fittest,  but 
of  the  unfittest,  —  a  painful  anachronism  to  remind 
good  positivists  and  advanced  thinkers  generally  of  the 
lowly  estate  from  which  they  have  emerged.  Not  even 
reached  the  metaphysical  stage  ;  and  yet  Mr.  Spurgeou 
has  thousands  and  thousands  of  excellent  men  and 
women  who  hang  on  his  everj'  word,  spoken  and  writ- 
ten, as  if  it  were  the  verj'  bread  of  life. 

With  hardly  an  attempt  at  direct  political  propa- 
gandism,  Mr.   Spurgeon  contrives  to  be  the  greatest 

217 


218    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT  OF  PARLIAMENT. 

single  influence  in  South  London  in  favor  of  Liberalism. 
At  elections,  school  board  and  paiiiamentary,  his  fol- 
lowers display  an  energy  and  discipline  which  leave 
nothing  to  be  desired.  They  are  men  of  faith,  who  do 
not  lose  heart  in  times  of  adversity  and  re-action. 
Their  human  sympathies,  as  well  as  their  spiritual, 
have  been  warmed  by  the  flame  which  bums  in  the 
bosom  of  the  devout  and  fearless  Great  Heart  of  the 
Metropolitan  Tabernacle. 

If  the  common  characteristic  of  men  of  progress,  of 
genuine  Radicals,  be  that  they  "live  not  for  them- 
selves but  for  others,"  then  it  would  be  hard  to  find  a 
better  Radical  than  Mr.  Spurgeon.  As  his  Divine 
Master"  went  about  doing  good,  so  has  His  disciple 
ever  struggled  hard  to  follow  in  His  footsteps.  So 
much  I  readily  grant.  My  heart  is  entirely  with  this 
pure-minded,  unsophisticated  believer  ;  but  my  unsancti- 
fied  head  will  not,  alas  !  follow  it.  I  go  to  the  Taber- 
nacle, and  I  admire  the  vastness  of  the  audience,  the 
simple  unconventional  eloquence  of  the  preacher,  the 
pith  and  mother- wit  of  many  of  his  saj'ings  ;  but,  on 
the  whole,  the  phraseology,  if  not  strange,  is  almost 
meaningless  to  me,  and  I  return  to  my  place  about  as 
little  edified  as  if  the  good  man  had  been  talking  in 
some  dead  language  to  which  I  had  no  key.  Instead 
of  attracting  me,  his  familiarity  with  the  Almighty  and 
His  ways  repels  me.  He  is  more  intimate  with  Him 
than  I  am  with  m}^  dearest  friend.  Is  this  the  unre- 
deemed condition  of  the  theologically -minded  spoken 
of  by  the  Prophet  Comte?  I  ask  myself;  or  what  is 
it?  — 

"  It  is  growing  dark!  .  .  . 
I  come  again  to  the  name  of  the  Lord  I 


CHARLES  HADDON  SPURGEON.      219 

Ere  I  that  awful  name  record, 
That  is  spoken  so  hghtly  among  men, 
Let  me  pause  a  while  and  wash  my  pen : 
Pure  from  blemish  and  blot  must  it  be 
When  it  writes  that  word  of  mystery," 

To  Mr.  Spurgeon  there  is  no  mystery  at  all.  He 
knows  the  decrees  of  God,  and  he  has  escaped  the 
wrath  to  come.  Hallelujah  !  Mr.  Spurgeon  is  a  con- 
verted man  ;  and  that  makes  all  the  diiference. 

Now,  how  was  he  converted  ?  This  becomes  an  im- 
portant question  ;  for  on  his  early  conversion  hangs  the 
whole  of  Mr.  Spurgeon' s  future  career.  He  is  one  of 
the  elect,  and  in  regard  to  so  important  a  matter  I 
much  prefer  that  he  should  speak  for  himself.  The 
event  took  place  on  Dec.  15,  1850,  in  the  Primitive 
Methodist  Chapel,  Colchester,  in  Mr.  Spurgeon's  six- 
teenth year : — 

' '  It  pleased  God  in  my  childhood  to  convince  me  of 
sin.  At  last  the  worst  came  to  the  worst.  I  was  mis- 
erable ;  I  could  do  scarcely  any  thing.  My  heart  was 
broken  in  pieces.  Six  months  did  I  pray, — prayed 
agonizingly  with  all  my  heart,  and  never  had  an  answer. 
I  resolved  that  in  the  town  where  I  lived  I  would  visit 
every  place  of  worship,  in  order  to  find  out  the  way  of 
salvation.  I  felt  I  was  willing  to  do  anj^  thing  and  be 
any  thing  if  God  would  onty  forgive  me.  I  set  off, 
determined  to  go  round  to  all  the  chapels,  and  I  went 
to  all  the  places  of  worship  ;  and  though  I  dearly  vene- 
rate the  men  that  occupy  those  pulpits  now,  and  did  so 
then,  I  am  bound  to  say  that  I  never  heard  them  once 
fully  preach  the  gospel.  I  mean  b}'  that,  thej-  preached 
truth,  great  truths,  many  good  truths  that  were  fitting 
to  many  of  their  congregation,  spiritually  minded  peo- 


220    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

pie ;  but  what  I  wanted  to  know  was,  How  can  I  get 
my  sins  forgiven?  And  they  never  once  told  me  that. 
I  wanted  to  hear  how  a  poor  sinner  under  a  sense  of 
sin  might  find  peace  with  God ;  and  when  I  went  I 
heard  a  sermon  on  '  Be  not  deceived :  God  is  not 
mocked,'  which  cut  me  up  worse,  but  did  not  say  how 
I  might  escape.  I  went  another  day,  and  the  text  was 
something  about  the  glories  of  the  righteous ;  nothing 
for  poor  me.  I  was  something  like  a  dog  under  the 
table,  —  not  allowed  to  eat  of  the  children's  food.  1 
went  time  after  time,  and  I  can  honestly  say  that  I 
don't  know  that  I  ever  went  without  prayer  to  God ; 
and  I  am  sure  there  was  not  a  more  attentive  hearer  in 
all  the  places  than  myself :  for  I  panted  and  longed  to 
understand  how  I  might  be  saved.  At  last  one  snowy 
day  —  it  snowed  so  much  I  could  not  go  to  the  place  I 
had  determined  to  go  to,  and  I  was  obliged  to  stop  on 
the  road,  and  it  was  a  blesssd  stop  to  me  —  I  found 
rather  an  obscure  street,  and  turned  down  a  court,  and 
there  was  a  little  chapel.  I  wanted  to  go  somewhere  ; 
but  I  did  not  know  this  place.  It  was  the  Primitive 
Methodists'  Chapel.  I  had  heard  of  these  people  from 
many,  and  how  thej-  sang  so  loudlj^  that  they  made 
people's  heads  ache  ;  but  that  did  not  matter.  I  want- 
ed to  know  how  I  might  be  saved ;  and,  if  they  made 
my  head  ache  ever  so  much,  I  did  not  care.  So  sitting 
down,  the  service  went  on  ;  but  no  minister  came.  At 
last  a  wery  thin-looking  man  came  into  the  pulpit,  and 
opened  his  Bible,  and  read  these  words  :  '  Look  unto 
me  and  be  saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth.'  Just  set- 
ting his  eyes  upon  me  as  if  he  knew  me  all  by  heart, 
he  said,  '  Young  man,  you  are  in  trouble.'  Well,  I 
was,  sure  enough.     Says  he,  '  You  will  never  get  out 


CHARLES  HADDON  SPURGEON.      221 

of  it  unless  you  look  to  Christ.'  And  then,  lifting  up 
his  hands,  he  cried  out  as  only,  I  think,  a  Primitive 
Methodist  could  do,  '  Look,  look,  look !  It  is  only 
"  look,"  *  said  he.  I  saw  at  once  the  way  of  salvation. 
Oh,  how  I  did  leap  for  joy  at  that  moment !  I  knew 
not  what  else  he  said.  I  did  not  take  much  notice  of 
it,  I  was  so  possessed  with  that  one  thought.  Like  as 
when  the  brazen  serpent  was  lifted  up,  they  only  looked 
and  were  healed.  I  had  been  waiting  to  do  fifty  things  ; 
but,  when  I  heard  this  word  '  Look ! '  what  a  charming 
word  it  seemed  to  me !  Oh !  I  looked  until  I  could 
almost  have  looked  my  eyes  away  ;  and  in  heaven  I  will 
look  on  still  in  my  joy  unutterable." 

Here,  then,  is  an  authentic  narrative  of  the  election 
of  Charles  Haddon  Spurgeon  ;  and  what  could  be  more 
ingenuous?  He  was  converted  by  the  word  "look," 
as  the  sinful  old  Scotchwoman  was  brought  from  nature 
to  grace  by  the  solemn  emphasis  with  which  Dr.  Chal- 
mers pronounced  the  word  Mesopotamia.  In  a  simi- 
larly unhappy  frame  of  mind  George  Fox  sought  advice 
from  a  clergyman,  and  was  admonished  to  ' '  drink  beer 
and  dance  with  the  girls."  There  is  in  truth  a  great 
varietj'  of  cures  for  such  spiritual  maladies.  Edward 
Spencer  Beesly  finds  great  joy  in  believing  in  Comtism, 
John  Henry  Newman  in  embracing  Romanism,  and 
Charles  Haddon  Spurgeon  in  flying  to  the  iron  rock  of 
Calvinism.  They  are  all  converted  from  uncertaint}'  to 
certainty.  0  ter  quaterque  beati !  I  would  to  Heaven 
I  were  as  sure  of  any  thing  as  these  men  are  of  every 
thing.  Similar  phenomena  are  common  among  Mo- 
hammedans and  Buddhists.  The  great  mistake  that  is 
made  by  such  religionists  as  Mr.  Spurgeon  is  to  sup- 
pose that  there  is  no  law  of  conversions  as  of  other 


222    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT   OP   PARLLA3IENT. 

mental  moods.  A  true  grammar  of  spiritual  assent 
has  3'et  to  be  written  ;  and  when  that  has  been  fairly 
executed  by  some  competent  investigator  of  psycho- 
logical phenomena  like  Professor  Bain,  for  example, 
there  will  be  nothing  startling  or  abnormally  significant 
in  the  experience  of  the  pastor  of  the  IMetropolitan 
Tabernacle.  The  element  of  mystery  will  inevitably 
be  eliminated,  and  evangelical  conversions  will  come 
perchance  to  be  classified  as  a  sort  of  measles  or  small- 
pox of  the  intellect. 

Charles  Haddon  Spurgeon  was  bom  at  the  village  of 
Kelvedon,  in  Essex,  in  June,  1834.  Like  so  many 
other  families  who  have  left  their  mark  on  the  religious 
life  of  England,  the  Spurgeons  are  the  descendants  of 
pious  Continental  refugees.  Driven  from  the  Nether- 
lands by  the  persecutions  of  Alva,  they  settled  in  Essex,' 
and  produced  a  line  of  pastors  —  each  of  them  remarka- 
ble in  his  own  way  —  which  has  remained  almost  with- 
out a  break  until  now.  Preaching  has  become  quite  a 
hereditary  occupation  or  passion  with  the  Spurgeons. 
In  the  phraseology  of  the  sects,  "They  have  never 
wanted  a  man  to  stand  before  the  Lord  in  the  service 
of  the  sanctuar}-."  Mr.  Spurgeon' s  grandfather,  James 
Spurgeon,  was  for  over  half  a  century  pastor  of  the 
Independent  Church  at  Stambourne,  in  Essex.  "  Like 
Luther,' '  says  his  grandson  in  an  article  in  "  The  Sword 
and  the  Trowel,"  "he  had  a  vivid  impression  of  the 
reality  and  personality  of  the  great  enem^-,  and  was 
accustomed  to  make  short  work  with  his  suggestions." 

An  extraordinary  nairative  follows,  which  I  fear 
must  be  ranked  with  "  contemptible  superstitions."  He 
had  been  converted  under  a  particular  tree  in  a  wood ; 
and  the  Devil,  appearing  to  him  in  a  dream,  threatened 


CHARLES  HADDON  SPUEGEON.      223 

to  tear  hun  to  pieces  should  he  venture  to  repair  to  the 
hallowed  spot  by  a  particular  path.  Greatly  daring,  he 
went ;  and  discovering,  of  course,  no  fiend  at  the  tree, 
he  exclaimed,  "Ah,  cowardly  Devil !  you  threatened  to 
tear  me  in  pieces,  and  now  you  do  not  dare  to  show 
your  face."  Instead,  however,  of  finding  Satan  at  the 
rendezvous,  his  eye  lighted  on  what  was  much  to  be 
preferred ;  viz.,  a  massive  gold  ring,  for  which,  mysteri- 
ously enough,  there  was  no  claimant.  But  the  sequel 
to  the  stor}^  is  the  best.  The  old  man  continued  annu- 
ally to  visit  the  spot  for  devotional  exercises,  till  at  last 
a  wheat-field  occupied  the  site  of  the  wood.  He  then 
knelt  down  among  the  wheat  to  pray,  but  had  hardly 
commenced  when  he  was  sternly  reminded  that  his 
sacred  grove  had  not  been  cut  down  for  nothing,  and 
that  he  must  seek  the  Lord  elsewhere.  "Maister," 
cried  a  harsh  voice  on  the  other  side  of  an  adjoining 
hedge,  "  thayre  be  a  creazy  man  a-saying  his  prayers 
down  in  the  wheat  over  thajre  ! ' ' 

John  Spurgeon,  the  son  of  this  venerable  grove-wor- 
shipper, and  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was 
the  second  of  a  family  of  ten.  For  manj^  years  he  was 
engaged  in  business  in  Colchester ;  but,  like  so  many 
of  his  family,  he  eventually  drifted  into  the  ministry, 
doing  duty  successively  atTollesbury  ;  Cranbrook,  Kent ; 
Fetter  Lane,  Holborn  ;  and  at  Islington.  When  a  mere 
child,  his  son,  Charles  Haddon  Spurgeon,  became  an 
inmate  of  his  grandfather's  house  at  Stambourne,  and 
at  once  came  under  the  most  pietistic  influences.  When 
ten  years  of  age  (see  "  Sword  and  Trowel"),  a  man 
of  God,  the  Rev.  Richard  Knill,  made  him  the  subject 
of  a  prophecy,  which  of  course  came  to  pass  :  — 

"  Calling  the  family  together,  he  took  me  on  his  knee, 


224    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT  OF   PAELTAilENT. 

and  I  distinctly  remember  his  saving,  '  I  do  not  know 
how  it  is,  but  I  feel  a  solemn  presentiment  that  this 
child  will  preach  the  gospel  to  thousands,  and  God  will 
bless  him  to  many  souls.  So  sure  am  I  of  this,  that, 
when  m}'  little  man  preaches  in  Rowland  Hill's  Chapel, 
as  he  will  do  one  day,  I  should  like  him  to  promise  me 
that  he  will  give  out  the  hymn  commencing,  — 

'  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way 
His  wonders  to  perform.' " 

This  sort  of  half-insinuated  miracle  is  of  not  infre- 
quent occurrence  in  Mr.  Spurgeon's  writings,  and  it  is 
b}'  no  means  the  most  satisfactory  feature.  Whenever 
I  stumble  on  such  things,  I  recall  the  stor3'  of  the  un- 
sanctified  Yankee  politician,  who  said  he  did  not  so 
much  object  to  twaddle  as  to  the  people  who  igno- 
miniously  believed  in  it.  Twaddle,  he  admitted,  might 
have  its  uses.  There  were  two  taverns,  in  this  shrewd 
man's  town,  of  unequal  repute.  One  of  them  was  the 
headquarters  of  the  anti-Masonic  leaders  (anti-Masonry 
was  the  "  cry"  of  the  hour)  ;  the  other  was  the  resort 
of  the  body  of  their  followers.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  legislative  session  our  politician  had  taken  up  his 
quarters  at  the  tavern  frequented  bj'  the  anti-Masonic 
rank  and  file.  After  a  little  while,  however,  he  aston- 
ished the  anti-Masonic  leaders  at  the  other  tavern  by 
presenting  himself  at  their  table.  "What  brings  3'ou 
here?"  they  asked:  "we  thought  5'ou  had  cut  us  to 
go  to  the  other  place."  —  "So  I  did,"  he  replied; 
''but  I  can't  stand,  the  nonsense  of  3'our  d anti- 
Masons  down  there!"  —  "Well,"  they  laughingly 
responded,  "  how  have  3'Ou  bettered  3'ourself  here?  for 
we  are  all  anti-Masons  too." — "True  enough,"  said 


CHARLES  HADDON  SPURGEON.      225 

the  clear-headed  legislator;  "but  there  is  a  great  dif- 
ference.    Those   d fools  down  yonder  believe  in 

it!" 

It  is  this  unfaltering  "  believing  in  it,"  nevertheless, 
that  is  at  once  the  source  of  Mr.  Spurgeon's  wealiness 
and  of  his  strength.  When  Robespierre  made  his  first 
appearance  in  the  Assembly,  he  was  derided  by  all  but 
Mirabeau,  who,  more  discerning,  observed,  "  That  man 
will  go  far:  he  believes  ever}"^  word  he  says."  So  it 
is  with  Mr.  Spurgeon.  He  has  gone  a  long  way,  and 
will  continue  to  go  a  long  way  ;  for  he  believes  ever}' 
word  he  says.  So  has  it  been  with  Newman,  who, 
firmly  mooring  his  bark  to  the  rock  of  papal  infallibil- 
it}',  has  become  a  prince  of  the  Koman  Church.  One 
only  requires  to  shut  one's  eyes  and  walk  by  faith  in 
order  to  achieve  great  things ;  yet  there  are  disadvan- 
tages connected  with  this  contemning  of  one's  sight. 
I  have,  for  example,  been  at  pains  to  glance  at  most  of 
the  productions  of  Mr.  Spurgeon's  prolific  pen,  and  I 
can  find  nothing  that  does  not  bear  an  utterly  ephem- 
eral impress.  His  mind,  it  is  tiTie,  is  thoroughly 
saturated  with  the  ideas  and  the  literatiu*e  of  the 
Hebrew  race, — rthe  least  scientific  of  all  the  great 
nations  of  antiquity ;  but  I  cannot  discover  that  he  is 
abreast  of  an}^  other  kind  of  knowledge.  The  sacred 
writings  of  other  peoples  are  seemingly  sealed  books  to 
him.  Neither  bj'  the  development  hypothesis,  nor  b}^ 
the  comparative  historical  method, — the  two  great 
clarificrs  of  modern  thinking,  —  has  Mr.  Spurgeon 
apparently  benefited  in  the  least. 

In  a  lecture  on  "  The  Studj^  of  Theology,"  delivered 
before  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  at  New- 
ington,  he  explained  the  manner  in  which  he  dealt  with 


226    EMINENT  LIBERALS  OUT  OP  PARLIAMENT. 

refractory  texts.  When  books  failed  him,  he  offered, 
he  said,  this  prayer:  "O  Lord!  teach  me  what  this 
means. ' '  And  he  added,  "  It  is  marvellous  how  a  hard, 
flinty  text  struck  out  sparks  with  the  steel  of  praj'er. ' ' 
I  admit  the  sparks :  but  I  desiderate  the  light  of  a 
genuine  scholarship ;  and,  though  it  would  be  most 
unjust  to  speak  slightingly  of  Mr.  Spurgeon's  acquire- 
ments, I  cannot  but  think  that  his  influence  for  good 
would  have  been  immensely  more  lasting  had  he  acted 
on  his  father's  sensible  advice,  and  subjected  himself  to 
a  sound  collegiate  training  before  becoming  a  teacher 
of  other  men. 

The  motive  which  determined  him  to  reverse  the 
sound  maxim,  Disce  ut  doceas,  was  characteristic. 
"  StUl  holding  on  to  the  idea  of  entering  the  collegiate 
institution,  I  thought  of  writing,  and  making  an  imme- 
diate application  ;  but  this  was  not  to  be.  That  after- 
noon, having  to  preach  at  a  village  station,  I  walked 
slowly,  in  a  meditative  frame  of  mind,  over  Midsummer 
Common  to  the  little  wooden  bridge  which  leads  to 
Chesterton ;  and  in  the  midst  of  the  conunon  I  was 
startled  by  what  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  loud  voice,  but 
which  may  have  been  a  singular  illusion.  Whichever  it 
was,  the  impression  it  made  on  my  mind  was  most 
vivid.  I  seemed  very  distinctly  to  heai"  the  words, 
'  Seekest  thou  great  things  for  thyself,  seek  them  not !  * 
This  led  me  to  look  at  my  position  from  a  different 
point  of  view,  and  to  challenge  mj'  motives  and  inten- 
tions. .  .  .  Had  it  not  been  for  these  words,  I  had  not 
been  where  I  am  now,"  &c. 

Either  a  loud  voice  or  a  singular  illusion,  but  in  any 
case  good  enough  to  prevent  a  lad  of  eighteen,  already 
acting  as  a  pastor  at  Waterbeach,  from  seeking  to  com- 


CHAELES  HADDON  SPUEGEON.      227 

plete  his  legitimate  studies  !  ' '  Backed  like  a  weasel, 
or  very  like  a  whale,"  —  it  is  all  the  same.  Well,  one 
might  think  such  things  ;  but  if  I  were  Mr.  Spurgeon  I 
should  not  say  them.  However  they  may  affect  the 
unthinking  mass,  they  cannot  but  make  the  judicious 
grieve.  They  are  a  direct  incentive  to  ignorant  spiritual 
self-sufficiency. 

What  is  the  consequence  to  Mr.  Spm-geon  himself? 
He  began  to  preach  when  he  was  sixteen,  and  between 
his  earliest  and  his  latest  discourses  there  is  but  little  to 
choose,  whether  as  regards  matter  or  manner.  From 
the  first  he  was  popular,  —  a  great  preacher,  but  a  very 
indifferent  thinker, — the  prophet  of  incipient  reflection, 
the  high  priest  of  emotional  religion.  He  had  scarcely 
passed  his  nineteenth  year  when  he  was  appointed  pas- 
tor of  his  present  metropolitan  charge.  His  first  Lon- 
don sermon,  in  December,  1853,  was  addressed  to  two 
hundred  hearers ;  in  three  months'  time  he  counted 
auditors  by  the  thousand.  Since  then  he  has  touched 
nothing  which  has  not  prospered,  and  his  industr}'^  has 
been  enormous.  In  1859  was  laid  the  first  stone  of  the 
vast  Metropolitan  Tabernacle,  which,  completed  in 
1861  at  a  cost  of  $15G,GG0,  accommodates  with  ease  an 
audience  of  six  thousand  persons.  In  connection  with 
the  Metropolitan  Tabernacle,  and  owing  its  origin  to 
Mr.  Spurgeon's  persistency,  is  the  Pastors'  College,  an 
institution  maintained  at  great  cost  for  the  education 
of  Baptist  preachers ;  the  Stockwell  Orphanage,  the 
Colportage  Association,  and  a  great  variety  of  other 
benevolent  institutions,  large  and  small,  which  bear 
eloquent  testimony  to  the  enduring  zeal  of  Mr.  Spur- 
geon in  promoting  what  he  regards  as  the  truest  inter- 
ests of  humanity.     In  addition  to  aU  these   achieve- 


228    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT  OP  PARLIAMENT. 

ments,  Mr.  Spurgeon's  publications  of  one  kind  or  other 
have  been  innumerable.  Of  his  sermons  some  twcnt}'- 
two  volumes  have  already  been  published,  and  single 
copies  have  been  known  to  attain  a  circulation  of  two 
hundred  thousand. 

Who  shall  say  that  the  theological  age  of  the  world 
has  yet  been  outlived?  And  it  is  not  because  Mr.  Spur- 
geon  preaches  soothing  doctrines  to  his  flock  that  they 
are  attracted  by  him.  He  is  the  mainstay  of  Calvinism 
in  England.  The  elect  few  alone  are  to  be  saved ;  the 
rest  go  to  eternal  perdition.  He  will  not  hear  of  the 
smallest  limitation  to  their  torments.  This  diabolic 
dogma,  worthy  of  the  man  who  betrayed  the  noble  Ser- 
ve tus  to  the  stake,  —  a  man  head  and  shoulders  above 
Calvin,  both  as  a  theologian  and  as  a  man  of  science,  — 
is  not  worthy  either  of  the  head  or  heart  of  the  pastor 
of  the  JMetropolitan  Tabernacle.  Were  it  true,  the  crea- 
ture would  then  indeed  be  more  just  than  the  Creator, 
and  all  but  the  vilest  reprobates  would  refuse  to  become 
"breeders  of  sinners."  Virtuous  men  would  every- 
where conspire  to  bring  the  race  to  speedy  extinction, 
so  as  to  balk  the  malevolent  Demiurgus  of  his  prey. 
The  doctrine  is  rendered  forever  incredible  by  its  very 
enormity.  I  took  some  exception  to  the  religion  of 
humanity  in  the  preceding  article ;  but  this  may  be 
called  the  religion  of  inhumanity,  and  it  I  totally  repu- 
diate. "  A  plague  on  both  your  houses  !  "  more  espe- 
cially the  latter.  Burns  was  more  humane,  and  perad- 
venture  not  less  Christian,  when  he  wrote  of  the  "  arch 
enemy  "  — 

"  But  fare  ye  weel,  auld  Nickie-BenI 
Oh,  wad  ye  tak'  a  thought  and  men', 
Ye  aiblms  might,  I  diuna  ken, 


CHAELES  HADDON  SPUKGEON.      229 

Still  ha' e  a  stake: 
I'm  wae  to  think  upon  yon  den, 
E'en  for  your  sake." 

At  the  London  School  Board  election  of  1870,  Mr. 
Spurgeon  materially  aided  in  cementing  the  compro- 
mise by  which  Scripture-teaching  has  been  retained 
in  rate-supported  schools.  He  forgot  the  admonition 
of  Christ,  "Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are 
Caesar's,  and  to  God  the  things  that  are  God's."  He 
called  in  the  arm  of  the  flesh  to  levy  rates  from  athe- 
ists and  all  manner  of  unbelievers  for  the  support  of 
what  was  delusively  termed  non-sectarian  education. 
In  but  too  many  instances  those  who  have  most  urgent- 
ly demanded  the  disendowment  of  religion  in  the  Church 
have  rushed  with  the  greatest  haste  to  endow  it  in  the 
schools.  They  have  abolished  church  foimularies,  and 
made  every  teacher  a  formulary  unto  himself  or  her- 
self. Instead  of  one  creed  being  taught,  we  have  at 
present  twenty  or  more  in  full  swing ;  for  I  defy  Mr. 
Spurgeon  or  any  other  to  impart  non-sectarian  biblical 
instruction.     The  thing  is  impossible. 

Mr.  Spurgeon' s  recent  discourse  on  the  crisis  now 
passed  or  passing  was  what  may  be  described  as  a 
model  political  sermon.  "  '  But,'  saith  one,  '  we  hope 
we  shall  have  national  prayer. '  I  hope  so,  too  ;  but 
will  there  be  a  national  confession  of  sin?  If  not,  how 
can  mere  prayer  avail  ?  Will  there  be  a  general  desire 
to  do  that  which  is  just  and  right  between  man  and 
man?  Will  there  be  a  declaration  of  England's  policy 
never  to  trample  on  the  weak,  or  pick  a  quarrel  for  our 
own  aggrandisement?  AVill  there  be  a  loathing  of  the 
principle  that  British  interests  are  to  be  our  guiding 
star  instead  of  justice  and  right?    Personal  interests 


230    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

are  no  excuse  for  doing  wrong.  If  they  were  so,  we 
should  have  to  exonerate  the  worst  of  thieves  ;  for  they 
will  not  invade  a  house  until  their  personal  interests 
invite  them.  Perhaps  the  midnight  robber  may  yet 
learn  to  plead  that  he  only  committed  a  burglarj'  for 
fear  another  thief  should  take  the  spoil,  and  make  worse 
use  of  it  than  he.  When  our  interests  are  our  policy, 
nobility  is  dead  and  true  honor  is  departed.  Will 
the  nation  repent  of  any  one  of  its  sins?  If  stern 
reformation  went  with  supplication,  I  am  persuaded 
that  prayer  would  prevail ;  but,  while  sin  is  gloried  in, 
my  hopes  find  little  ground  to  rest  upon.  It  may  be 
that  my  text  will  be  the  sole  answer  of  the  Lord  :  '  I 
will  go  and  return  to  my  place  till  they  acknowledge 
their  oflence  and  seek  my  face  ;  in  their  affliction  they 
will  seek  me  early.'  " 


VI. 

JAMES  BEAL. 

"  We  cannot  bring  Utopia  by  force ; 
But  better,  almost,  be  at  work  in  sin 
Than  in  a  brute  inaction  browse  and  sleep." 

THERE  is  not  in  England's  vast  metropolis,  or  per- 
adventure  in  all  England,  a  Radical  who,  during 
the  last  thirty  years,  has  more  consistently  acted  on 
this  principle  than  Mr.  James  Beal,  the  noted  Regent- 
street  auctioneer  and  land-agent. 

He  is  the  typical  Radical  citizen  of  London,  —  a  bour- 
geois untainted  by  any  of  the  political  failings  of  the 
English  middle  class.  These  consist  of  indifference  to 
the  claims  of  intellectual  superiority  on  the  one  hand, 
and  to  the  demands  of  suffering  humanity  on  the  other. 
The  British  shopkeeper  is  not  without  his  virtues  ;  but 
he  is  neither  the  friend  of  thinkers  nor  of  the  prole- 
tariate. In  both  these  respects  Mr.  Beal  has  nsen 
Conspicuously  above  the  class  to  which  he  belongs. 
For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  this  busy,  bus- 
tling auctioneer  has  contrived  to  devote  some  portion 
of  his  day  —  often  the  best  portion  of  it  —  to  the  fui*- 
therance  of  this  scheme  or  that  of  municipal  or  national 
reform.  Without  fee  or  reward,  in  evil  and  in  good 
report,  he  has  gone  steadily  forward,  studying,  writing, 

231 


232    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT  OP  PARLIAMENT. 

lecturing,  organizing  on  behalf  of  some  good  cause  or 
other,  — 

"  One  of  much  outside  bluster:  for  all  that, 
Most  honest,  brave,  and  skilful." 

Mr.  Beal  has  made  the  public  interest  his  interest  to 
an  extent  that  has  not  been  excelled  by  any  private 
citizen  of  the  day.  His  achievements  bear  eloquent 
testimony  to  the  good  which  it  is  possible  for  individual 
Radicals  to  effect  who  may  never  even  aspire  to  a  seat 
in  the  House.  The  self-forgetfulness  which  enables 
such  public-spirited  citizens  as  Beal  to  feel  greater 
pleasure  in  returning  to  Parliament  political  thinkers 
of  the  eminence  of  Mill  and  Morley,  than  in  being 
themselves  returned,  is  one  of  the  most  hopeful  signs 
of  English  public  life.  It  points  to  the  ultimate  con- 
quest of  Philistia  by  the  forces  of  humanity  and  right 
reason  ;  and  in  that  sacred  warfare  Mr.  Beal  has  earned 
for  himself  imperishable  distinction.  In  Philistia,  he  is 
not  of  it.  On  the  contrary',  he  has  assailed  the  Philis- 
tines in  their  chief  strongholds  of  vestry,  guild,  and 
corporation,  with  a  vigor  which  has  caused  them  oft- 
times  to  tremble  behind  their  intrenchments.  But  I 
must  not  anticipate. 

Mr.  Beal's  public  work,  like  his  private  business,  has 
been  of  a  strictly  practical  character,  and  will  be  best 
treated  in  brief  chronological  sequence.  Whatsoever 
his  hand  has  found  to  do,  he  has  done  it  with  his  might. 
There  are  many  good  men  willing  to  discharge  public 
duties  at  the  solicitation  of  others  ;  but  Mr.  Beal  is 
not  one  of  these.  It  has  been  his  function  to  in- 
vent duties  for  himself  and  others,  as  the  sequel  will 
show. 


JAMES   BEAL.  233 

"No  man  is  bom  into  the  world  whose  work 
Is  not  born  with  him :  there  is  always  work, 
And  tools  to  work  withal,  for  those  who  will; 
And  he  who  waits  to  have  his  task  marked  out 
Shall  die,  and  leave  his  errand  unfulfilled." 

James  Beal  was  bom  in  Chelsea  (Sloane  Square)  in 
February,  1829.  His  father  was  a  respectable  old  Tory 
tradesman,  who  had  originally  come  from  Yorkshire. 
He  died  before  Beal  had  completed  his  seventeenth 
3'^ear,  living  long  enough,  however,  to  satisfy  the  sub- 
ject of  this  memoir  that  he  and  his  male  parent  pos- 
sessed few  or  no  sympathies  in  common.  It  was 
different  with  Beal's  mother.  She  was  a  woman  as 
remarkable  for  vigor  of  mind  as  of  body,  and  from  her 
her  son  inherited  most  of  his  mental  and  physical  char- 
acteristics. Without  brother^,  and  without  access  to 
his  father's  sjonpathies,  Beal  naturall}^  enough  "  took, 
after ' '  this  strong-minded  mother,  whose  memory  he 
still  reverently  cherishes. 

There  was  no  London  School  Board  in  those  times, 
and  young  Beal's  education  was  accordingly  of  a  some- 
what meagre  kind.  He  attended  several  local  schools 
kept  by  private  teachers,  but  never  got  beyond  the 
"beggarly  elements"  of  the  three  R's.  He  was 
eventually  put  to  business  in  his  fourteenth  j'^ear,  the 
consequence  being  that  Mr.  Beal  is  substantially  a  self- 
taught  man.  No  one  who  has  gone  through  the  regular 
scholastic  mill  could  doubt  this  for  a  moment.  The 
matter  of  his  writings  is  always  excellent ;  but  the  man- 
ner is  generally  very  rugged.  His  arrows  have  terrible 
barbs,  but  no  feathers.  They  do  not  kill  at  long  range  ; 
but  they  are  very  formidable  in  a  hand-to-hand  encoun- 
ter.    As  a  journalist,  the  directness,  not  to  say  the 


234    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OP  PARLIAMENT. 

ftuy,  of  his  method  of  attack  —  so  different  fixnn  that 
of  the  professional  scribe  —  arrests,  and  is  bound  to 
arrest,  attention  by  its  very  novelty,  if  for  no  better 
reason. 

Mr.  Beal's  business  training  was  in  every  way  more 
fortunate  than  his  educational.  He  commenced  as  clerk 
in  a  solicitor's  oflSce  ;  and  before  he  had  completed  his 
sixteenth  year  he  had  mastered  Blackstone,  and  acquired 
a  general  knowledge  of  legal  forms  and  principles  which 
could  not  fail  to  be  of  the  greatest  use  to  him  as  a  man 
of  business  in  after-life.  About  this  time  he  had  for- 
tunately few  companions  except  his  books ;  and  these 
he  read  with  avidity,  storing  up  much  valuable  infor- 
mation, which  he  shortly  found  most  serviceable.  One 
of  his  few  friends  happily  possessed  a  large  and  well- 
selected  library ;  and  Beal,  having  the  run  of  it,  did 
not  neglect  the  opportunity  to  make  up  for  the  short- 
comings of  his  school-training. 

Subsequently  Mr.  Beal  entered  the  office  of  an  up- 
holsterer ;  but  before  he  was  twenty-one  he  found  him- 
self a  partner  in  the  extensive  auctioneer  and  land- 
agency  business  of  which  he  has  now  for  many  years 
been  the  principal.  This  Radical  of  the  Radicals  has 
bought  and  sold  more  real  estate,  let  and  hired  more 
aristocratic  mansions,  than  perhaps  any  land-agent  in 
England.  Such  a  fact,  so  antecedently  improbable, 
speaks  volumes  for  the  integrity  and  capacity  of  the 
man. 

In  1848  Mr.  Beal  began  to  apply  his  mind  to  politics 
"in  earnest;  "  that  is  to  say,  he  became  a  confinned 
and  immovable  Radical.  He  had  previously  induced 
his  father,  much  to  the  old  man's  subsequent  astonish- 
ment, to  record  his  vote  for  Cochrane,  then  Radical 


JAMES  BEAL.  235 

candidate  for  Middlesex,  —  a  thoroughly  characteristic 
act ;  for  Beal,  with  all  his  fiery  zeal,  has  a  wonderful 
knack  of  converting  foes  into  friends,  if  only  an  oppor- 
tunity of  exerting  his  personal  influence  is  afforded  hini. 
His  own  mind  is  so  thoroughly  made  up,  that  he  will 
speedily  make  up  yours,  if  you  are  not  on  your  guard. 
He  became  a  member  of  the  "  Discussion  Classes  " 
which  then  met  at  the  National  Hall,  Holbom ;  and 
there  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  such  well-known 
apostles  of  Radicalism  as  Hetherington,  Lovett,  Wat- 
son, and  Place. 

The  first  reform  with  which  his  name  is  associated 
was  the  abolition  of  the  penny  stamp  on  newspapers. 
Brougham  had  succeeded,  in  1834,  in  effecting  a  reduc- 
tion of  the  obnoxious  impost  from  fourpence  to  a  penny  ; 
and  Hetherington,  Place,  Beal,  and  others,  in  1848, 
formed  a  committee  for  its  total  removal.  In  further- 
ance of  the  movement,  Beal,  in  1849,  published  an  ex- 
cellent pamphlet  entitled  ' '  A  Few  Words  in  Favor  of 
the  Liberty  of  the  Press,  and  the  Abolition  of  the  Penny 
Stamp  on  Newspapers. ' '  The  committee  was  ultimately 
merged  in  an  association  for  the  repeal  of  both  the 
advertisement  duty  and  the  paper  duty,  —  objects  which 
were  eventually  attained. 

In  1850  Mr.  Beal  contributed  to  "The  Freeholder" 
a  valuable  series  of  letters  on  the  land  question.  They 
were  reprinted  in  1855  ;  and  a  second  edition,  entitled 
"Free  Trade  in  Land,"  appeared  in  1876.  Both  as 
regards  theory  and  practice,  the  author  shows  himself 
a  thorough  master  of  his  subject.  He  has  read  and  he 
has  observed,  and  both  reading  and  observation  have 
convinced  him  that  our  whole  system  of  land-tenure  is 
simply  barbarous.     From  1851  to  1855  he  was  actively 


236    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT   OF  PARLIAMENT. 

engaged  in  establishing  freehold-laud  societies  through- 
out England  and  Scotland.  IVIanj'  suburban  estates 
were  bought  and  subdivided  among  the  shareholders  as 
sites  for  cottages  ;  one  out  of  mauy  advantages  of  the 
arrangement  being  that  thousands  of  artisans,  then 
without  the  franchise,  were  thus  enabled,  bj""  a  flank 
movement,  to  obtain  it. 

About  the  same  time  Mr.  Beal  came  prominently 
forward  in  the  character  of  an  ecclesiastical  reformer, 
addressing  a  series  of  trenchant  letters  to  the  Bishop  of 
London  on  certain  popish  practices  observed  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Paul,  Wilton  Place,  and  of  St.  Barna- 
bas, Pimlico.  A  memorable  action,  "  Westerton  and 
Beal  v.  Liddel,"  ensued.  The  legalit}'^  of  ritualism 
had  never  been  legally  challenged  since  the  Reforma- 
tion. Mr.  Beal  appeared  in  person  before  the  Privy 
Council,  and  obtained  a  favorable  judgment,  but  with- 
out costs,  which  were  cheerfully  defrayed  by  public 
subscription.  The  agitation  resulted  in  the  Public 
Worship  Act,  and  the  end  is  not  yet.. 

In  1857  Mr.  Beal  entered  on  a  long  and  arduous 
struggle  with  the  gas-companies  of  the  metropolis. 
These  companies  had  "-districted"  London  among 
themselves,  and  ruled  the  consumers  with  a  rod  of 
iron.  Mr.  Beal  contrived  to  eflect  a  combination  of 
vestries  against  the  companies, — on  the  principle,  I 
suppose,  of  setting  a  thief  to  catch  a  thief,  —  and  after 
a  contest  which  lasted  all  through  '57,  '58,  '59,  and 
'60,  the  Metropolitan  Gas  Act  was  passed,  which 
improved  the  quality  of  the  gas-suppl}^  limited  its 
price,  curtailed  dividends,  and  eflected  a  net  saving  to 
the  consumers  of  three  million  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  per  annum,  —  a  sum  equivalent 
to  the  entire  school-board  rate. 


JAMES   BEAL.  2S7 

In  1870  Mr.  Beal  induced  the  Government  to  give 
notice  of  its  intention  to  improve  the  water-supply  of 
London.  Unfortunately,  the  good  intention,  like  so 
many  others,  went  to  pave  the  unmentionable  region 
spoken  of  by  Dr.  Johnson ;  but  the  subject  has  not 
been  allowed  to  drop.  It  has  been  demonstrated  at 
influential  public  meetings,  recently  held,  that  the 
present  metropolitan  water-supply  is  unsatisfactory  as 
regards  purity,  cost,  and  the  poundage  principle  of 
assessment.  Put  the  water-supply  under  representa- 
tive instead  of  compan}'  control,  and  it  is  calculated 
t^at  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  per 
annum  can  readily  be  saved  to  the  ratepayers.  In 
attempting  to  deal  with  this  question,  the  late  Home 
Secretary  acted  with  such  imprudence  as  to  precipitate 
the  dissolution  that  wrecked  the  Government,  Mr. 
Beal  skilfully  fanning  the  flame  of  discontent  excited 
by  his  monstrous  proposals. 

In  1876  Mr.  Beal  broke  new  and  most  important 
ground.  "Fearing  lest  an  increased  education-rate 
should  render  the  cause  of  scholastic  enlightenment 
unpopular,  he  set  himself  to  investigate  other  possible 
sources  of  revenue,  and  an  altogether  remarkable  series 
of  papers  on  "  The  Corporation  Guilds  and  Charities 
of  the  City  of  London,"  contributed  to  "The  Dis- 
patch" and  signed  "  Nemesis,"  was  the  result.  The 
revelations  were-  simply  astounding.  The  corporation, 
with  a  revenue  of  thi'ee  million  dollars  per  annum 
derived  from  the  "  common  good  ;  "  tlie  liveries,  with 
more  than  five  million  dollars  issuing  out  of  trust 
funds  ;  and  the  city  charities,  with  a  good  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars  annual  income, — were  shown  to  be 
one  vast  network  of  corruption  and  malversation.  Ab 
uno  disce  omnia. 


238    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

In  1513  the  mercers  held  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
of  trust-land,  located  chiefly  in  Marylebone  and  West- 
minster (Bradbury's  trust).  They  now  retain  eight 
and  a  half  acres  ;  and  no  man  can  or  will  tell  what  they 
have  done  with  the  rest  of  the  estate.  The  eight  and  a 
half  acres  yield  a  rental  of  a  hundred  and  thirty-seven 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars ;  and 
the  trustees  make  a  return  to  the  Charity  Commission- 
ers of  a  fixed  "  annual  payment  of  £1 10s.  per  annum  to 
St.  Stephen,  Coleman  Street."  Having  done  this,  they 
feel  the}'  have  discharged  their  duty  towards  the  "  pious 
founder  "  and  the  public,  and  pocket  the  little  balance 
for  the  trouble  they  have  taken.  In  New  York  certain 
malefactors  connected  with  the  municipality,  who  in  a 
similar  manner  sought  to  convert  public  trusts  to 
private  uses,  speedily  found  their  way  to  jail  amid  a 
hurricane  of  popular  execration.  If  the}^  had  been  in 
"  famous  London  town,"  they  would  have  been  central 
figures  at  the  Lord  Mayor's  show,  clothed,  not  in  sack- 
cloth and  ashes,  but  in  purple  and  fine  linen,  the  ob- 
served of  all  observers.  Mr.  Beal  holds,  and  I  heartilj'^ 
agree  with  him,  that  these  nefarious  city  jobbers  must 
be  compelled  to  disgorge  at  least  half  their  revenues  for 
metropolitan  education,  or  justice  will  remain  a  laugh- 
ing-stock. Mr.  Beal,  almost  single-handed,  has  caiTied 
dismay  into  their  camp.  The  Grocers'  Company  has 
given  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  to 
the  London  Hospital,  and  the  guilds  are  organizing  a 
technical  college  to  cost  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  per 
annum.  But  these  are  not  tokens  of  genuine  repent- 
ance. They  are  mere  dissembling  peace-oflTerings  to 
be  set  aside  by  the  public  with  contempt. 

The  existence  of  so  many  anomalies  and  gigantic 


JAMES   BEAL.  289 

abuses  convinced  Mr.  Beal,  as  early  as  1861,  that  what 
is  really  wanted  is  a  single  municipality  for  the  whole 
of  London.  In  that  year  a  committee  of  the  House, 
before  which  Mr.  Beal  was  examined,  considered  the 
whole  subject ;  and  ever  since  his  views  have  been  rap- 
idly winning  public  approval.  Mill,  Buxton,  Elcho,  and 
Shuttleworth  have  each  unsuccessfully  brought  in  bills 
embodying  Beal's  ideas.  Latterly  Mr.  Gladstone  has 
promised  his  powerful  support,  and  placed  the  reform 
of  the  municipality  of  London  at  the  head  of  his  long 
list  of  "  unredeemed  pledges."  Eventual  triumph  is, 
accordingl}'-,  as  good  as  certain.  When  it  comes,  it 
will  be  the  cleansing  out  of  the  biggest  Augean  stable 
in  Christendom. 

Mr.  Beal,  as  is  well  known,  was  the  moving  spirit  in 
the  generous  electioneering  effort  which,  in  1865,  re- 
sulted in  the  return  of  the  late  John  Stuart  Mill  for 
"Westminster  free  of  expense  ;  and  it  was  owing  to  his 
enlightened  action  that  the  first  London  School  Board 
had  among  its  members  such  distinguished  men  as 
Lawrence,  Huxley,  and  Morle3^  And  what  he  did  for 
Mill  he  strove  hard  to  do  for  the  greatest  of  his  dis- 
ciples, Morley,  but  in  vain. 

Mr.  Cross's  vaunted  Artisans'  Dwellings  Act  Mr. 
Beal  would  have  rendered  workable,  if  the  right  honor- 
able gentleman  had  onl}^  had  the  good  sense  to  profit 
by  his  advice.  His  plan  was,  not  to  enforce  sales  to 
the  local  authority,  but  to  compel  the  owners  of  dilapi- 
dated tenements  themselves  to  incur  all  risks  in  con- 
nection with  the  pulling  down  and  re-erection  of 
condemned  buildings  owned  by  them.  As  it  is,  the 
Metropolitan  Board  is  at  a  standstill,  having  lost  four 
million  dollars  of  the  ratepaj'ers'  money  in  the  vain 


240   EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OF  PARLIAMENT. 

attempt  to  sell  the  sites  of  "  rookeries  "  for  as  much  as 
they  cost.     Verily,  wisdom  is  justified  of  her  children. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  said,  that  in  no  progressive 
movement,  national  or  municipal,  since  1848,  has  Beal 
failed  to  play  a  manty  and  singularly  disinterested  part. 
In  1851,  when  Joseph  Hume  and  Sir  Joshua  Walmsley 
endeavored  to  revive  public  interest  in  parliamentary 
reform,  Beal  "  stumped  "  London  for  them,  and  mate- 
rially helped  to  convince  Earl  Russell  of  the  inexpe- 
diency of  adhering  to  his  "  finality  "  policy.  He  had 
his  reward  in  the  legislation  of  18G7. 

Nor  have  Mr.  Deal's  sympathies  been  confined  to 
London  or  England  exclusively".  He  was  a  determined 
partisan  of  the  North  during  the  American  civil  war ; 
and,  at  a  public  meeting  held  in  London  in  the  interest 
of  the  Confederates,  he  tore  down  the  "■  palmetto 
flag"  from  the  wall,  and  trampled  it  under  foot  at 
the  risk  of  serious  personal  violence. 

When  Garibaldi  was  wounded  at  Aspromonte,  he 
raised  a  fund  of  five  thousand  dollars  to  send  out 
Pi'ofessor  Partridge,  to  give  the  noble  general  the  ben- 
efit of  first-rate  surgical  skill. 

Indeed,  as  I  have  said,  it  is  impossible  to  mention 
almost  any  good  pie  for  thirty  years  past  in  which 
this  indefatigable  friend  of  humanity  has  not  had  a 
finger.  One  stands  simply  amazed  at  the  multitude  of 
his  good  deeds,  which  have  no  smack  of  self-conscious- 
ness. It  would  be  impossible  to  imagine  a  reformer 
with  less  cant  or  nonsense  about  him  than  Beal.  He 
has  no  "unction"  of  any  kind,  —  a  heartj'^,  sharp, 
decisive  man,  ordained  to  be  a  Radical  and  pioneer  of 
progress  from  the  foundations  of  the  world,  "  Wha 
does  his  best,"  said  Bums,  "will  whiles  do  mair." 
James  Beal,  me  thinks,  has  oft  done  mair. 


VII. 

MONCURE  DANIEL  CONWAY. 

"  His  hearers  can't  tell  you  on  Sunday  beforehand 
If  in  that  day's  discourse  they'll  be  Bibled  or  Koraned; 
For  he's  seized  the  idea  (by  his  martyrdom  fired) 
That  all  men  (not  orthodox)  may  be  inspired." 

MR.  CONWAY'S  inspiration  may  be  questioned, 
but  none  will  gainsay  his  total  heterodoxy.  If 
he  is  not  a  prophet,  it  is  not  his  fault :  he  is  the  least 
orthodox  preacher  in  London.  "  His  faith  has  centre 
everywhere,  nor  cares  to  fix  itself  to  form." 

The  congregation  of  South-place  Chapel,  Finsbury, 
are  Nonconformists  who  non-conform  ver}'-  much. 
Their  Bible  is  called  "The  Sacred  Anthology,"  —  a 
book  of  ettmical  Scriptures,  collected  and  edited  by 
Mr.  Conway.  The  purpose  of  the  work  is  simply 
moral.  "  He  has  aimed,"  he  says  in  the  preface,  "to 
separate  the  more  universal  and  enduring  treasures 
contained  in  ancient  Scriptures  from  the  nist  of  super- 
stition and  the  ore  of  ritual ;  "  and  he  has  succeeded  iu 
his  aim.  To  good  rationalists  "  The  Sacred  Anthol- 
ogy "  ought  to  be  what  "  The  Garden  of  the  Soul "  is 
to  good  Romanists.  "The  utterance  does  not  whoUy 
perish  which  many  peoples  utter ;  nay,  this  is  the  voice 
of  God." 

At  South  Place  the .  condemnation  of  the  Pharisees 

241 


242    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT   OF  PARLLAJHENT. 

who,  for  a  pretence,  make  long  prayers,  is  not  incurred. 
No  prayers  are  ofiered  up.  There  has  been  substituted 
what  is  called  "meditations,"  or  moral  soliloquies,  and 
the  finest  music.  The  whole  atmosphere  of  the  chapel 
is  ' '  advanced ' '  to  such  a  degree  that  Unitarians  of 
the  older  school,  when  they  occasionally  enter  it,  are 
almost  as  puzzled  as  orthodox  Trinitarians  what  to 
make  of  it.  The  average  intellectual  level  of  the  con- 
gregation is,  I  should  imagine,  the  highest  in  London. 
Men  and  women  who  could  not  be  induced  to  listen  to 
any  other  preacher  go  readily  to  hear  Mr.  Conwa3^ 
Nowhere  will  you  find  a  finer  collection  of  human 
heads  ;  and  yet  Mr.  Conway  is  not  an  orator  in  any 
sense  of  the  word. 

His  predecessor,  the  celebrated  W.  J.  Fox,  "  Pub- 
licola  "  of  "  The  Dispatch,"  and  member  of  Parliament 
for  Oldham,  was  a  different  man.  He  combined  all  the 
qualities  of  a  popular,  if  heretic,  preacher.  It  is  what 
Mr.  Conway  sa3's,  and  not  how  he  says  it,  that  attracts. 
He  is  hardly  even  a  scholar  in  the  English  and  strictly 
technical  sense  of  the  term,  and  in  matters  of  detail  he 
is  occasionally  inaccurate.  But  he  is  an  original  and 
fearless  thinker,  —  a  bom  instructor  of  other  men  in 
whatever  is  true,  beautiful,  and  good,  with  an  ear  deli- 
cately attuned  to  catch  the  faintest  accents  of  the  "  still, 
small  voice"  of  conscience.  What  he  hears  in  the 
closet  he  has  the  courage  to  proclaim  from  the  housetop. 
His  discourses  consequently  bear  an  oracular  impress. 
They  have,  moreover,  an  aroma  of  mysticism,  faint  but 
sweet,  —  a  breath  of  New  England  transcendentalism 
peculiarly  grateful  to  unaccustomed  Cockne}'^  nostrils. 
It  were  curious  to  speculate  what  would  happen  il'  say 
Spurgeon  and  Conway  were  to  exchange  pulpits  for  a 


MONCUKE  DANIEL  CONWAY.  243 

month  or  so.  Both  churches,  I  imagine,  would  be  com- 
pletely emptied.  To  the  eclectics  of  South  Place  Mr. 
Spurgeon's  doctrines  would  be  mere  foolishness,  while  to 
the  Calviuists  of  the  Tabernacle  Mr.  Conway  would  be 
worse  than  a  stumbling-block  :  he  would  be  Antichrist. 
Yet  there  is  a  golden  bridge  over  this  terrible  chasm  of 
conflicting  beliefs.  Mr.  Conway  and  Mr.  Spurgeon 
have  a  common  object  for  which  they  toil;  viz.,  the 
moral  elevation  of  mankind.  Where  this  essence  of 
all  true  religions  is  present,  the  form  is  of  secondary 
consequence.  Creed  or  no  creed,  for  the  good  the  path 
of  duty  is  the  same. 

"  The  soul  is  still  oracular:  amid  the  market's  din 
List  the  ominous,  stern  whisper  from  the  Delphic  cave  within, 
'They  enslave  their  children's  children  who  make  compro- 
mise with  sin.' " 

Moncure  Daniel  Conway,  it  need  scarcely  be  recorded, 
is  by  birth  an  American.  He  was  born  in  1832  near 
Fredericksburg,  Stafford  Count}',  Va. ,  where  his  father, 
Walker  Pej'ton  Conway,,  a  gentleman  of  independent 
fortune,  enjoj^ed  universal  esteem.  The  elder  Conway 
was  both  a  county  magistrate  and  a  member  of  the 
State  legislature.  The  stock  had  come  originally  from 
Wales,  and  in  the  course  of  a  century  or  more  had 
multiplied  rapidly  in  Stafford  County.  Intermarriage 
with  other  ' '  leading  families  ' '  of  Moncures  and  Daniels 
had  been  very  frequent.  The  Moncures  were  of  Scot- 
tish Jacobite  extraction,  while  the  Daniels  were  English. 
The  father  of  young  Conway's  mother  was  John  Mon- 
cure Daniel,  a  graduate  in  medicine  of  Edinburgh 
University,  and  surgeon-general  of  the  United  States 
furmy.     Among  her  ancestors  was  likewise  Stone,  the 


244    EMINENT   LIBERALS  OUT  OF  PABLIAMENT. 

first  colonial  governor  of  Maiyland ;  while  her  grand- 
father, Thomas  Stone,  enjoyed  the  proud  distinction  of 
being  one  of  the  signatories  of  the  famous  Declaration 
of  Independence.  These  were  matters  of  some  moment 
in  a  State  where  slavery  was  an  institution,  and  "  mean 
whites  "  were  treated  with  contempt. 

Supported  by  troops  of  affluent  friends  and  kinsmen, 
Conway's  path  in  life  seemed  at  its  conmiencement 
nowise  steep  or  arduous.  As  a  politician  he  might 
hope  to  climb  the  ladder  of  power  and  dignity  in  the 
republic  easily  and  rapidly ;  but  the  lion  of  slaveiy 
crouched  in  the  way.  His  father  was,  unfortunately, 
a  large  slave-owner, — a  humane  man,  it  is  time,  but 
still,  like  his  neighbors,  an  owner  of  scores  of  human 
chattels.  "Few,"  says  Mr.  Conway  in  his  "Testi- 
monies concerning  Slavery,"  "  are  the  really  peaceful 
days  that  I  remember  having  smiled  on  in  my  old  Vir- 
ginian home.  The  outbreaks  of  the  negroes  among 
themselves  ;  the  disobediences  which  the  necessary  dis- 
cipline can  never  suffer  to  be  overlooked ;  the  terrors 
of  devoted  parents  at  the  opportunities  for  the  display 
of  evil  tempers  and  the  inception  of  nameless  vices 
among  their  sons,  —  I  remember  as  the  demons  haunt- 
ing those  days.  I  have  often  heard  my  parents  say  that 
the  care  of  slaves  had  made  them  prematurely  old." 

Conway's  early  education  was  the  best  that  the  neigh- 
borhood afforded.  As  a  child  he  attended  several  pri- 
vate schools,  and  subsequently  he  became  a  pupil  of 
the  Classical  and  Mathematical  Academy  in  Fredricks- 
bm-g.  Here  he  made  rapid  progress,  and  in  due  course 
was  entered  as  an  undergraduate  of  Dickinson  College, 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  graduated  in  1849.  The  stu- 
dents were  mostly  from  Maryland  and  Virginia,  with 


MONCURE  DANIEL  CONWAY.  245 

strong  pro-slavery  sympathies  ;  and  young  Conway  re- 
turned to  his  Virginian  home  in  his  eighteenth  year  as 
full  of  anti- Northern  prejudices  as  the  rest.  He  com- 
menced the  stud}^  of  law  at  Warrenton,  and,  while  thus 
engaged,  fell  under  the  influence  of  a  remarkable  man, 
his  cousin  John  M.  Daniel,  the  formidable  duellist  editor 
of  the  notorious  "  Richmond  Examiner."  Daniel  was 
the  best  educated  man  in  Richmond,  a  profound  student 
of  Spinoza,  Hegel,  Kant,  Fichte,  Feuerbach,  Fourier, 
Cousin,  Voltaire.  His  range  of  vision  far  exceeded 
that  of  any  man  Conway  had  known,  and  it  is  scarcely 
to  be  wondered  at  that  Daniel  made  a  strong  impression 
on  his  3^outhful  kinsman's  mind.  He  professed  to  rest 
slavery  on  a  quasi-scientific  basis  of  racial  inferiorit}^ 
"  We  hold,"  he  declai-ed  in  his  journal,  to  which  Con- 
way became  a  contributor,  ' '  that  negroes  are  not  men 
in  the  sense  in  which  that  term  is  used  by  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence.  Were  the  slaves  men,  we  should 
be  unable  to  disagree  with  Wendell  Phillips." 

Thus  fortified  in  his  pro-slavery  ideas,  Conway's 
next  step  was  to  become  the  secretary  of  a  Southern 
rights,  otherwise  a  secessionist,  club,  whose  sole  raison 
d'etre  was  to  break  up  the  Union  in  the  interest  of  the 
"  peculiar  institution  "  of  the  South  on  the  first  availa- 
ble opportunity.  So  much  for  the  pernicious  teaching 
of  his  misanthropic  cousin.  But  happily  other  consid- 
erations began  to  weigh  with  Conway.  If  circum- 
stances had  leagued  him  with  the  oppressor,  kind  Na- 
tm'e  had  made  him  at  heart  an  irrepressible  Radical. 
In  1850,  before  the  completion  of  his  eighteenth  3'ear, 
appeared  his  first  pamphlet,  entitled  "-Free  Schools  in 
Virginia,"  which  was  distributed  among  the  people, 
and  laid  on  the  desk  of  every  member  of  the  State  Con- 


246    EMINENT  LIBERALS  OUT   OF  PARLIAMENT. 

vention  which  met  that  year  for  the  revision  of  the 
Virginian  Code.  I  have  read  this  plea  for  free  schools 
to  educate  the  "mean  whites,"  and  can  only  wonder 
that  a  lad  of  eighteen  should  have  had  the  ability  or 
patience  to  produce  so  masterly  an  appeal.  The  effect 
was,  nevertheless,  most  disappointing.  He  was  viru- 
lently attacked  by  the  journals  as  one  who,  by  advo- 
cating a  "  mob  road  to  learning,"  was  jeopardizing  the 
very  existence  of  Southern  society.  The  mean  whites, 
like  the  servile  blacks,  must  be  kept  in  ignorance.  It 
is  not,  however,  so  long  since  representatives  of  our 
own  ' '  agricultural  interests  ' '  were  in  the  habit  of  giv- 
ing expression  to  views  equally  enlightened.  But  Mr. 
Conway  was  not  thus  to  be  put  down.  Reason,  con- 
science, compassion,  told  him  that  the  cause  he  had 
espoused  was  just  and  beneficent.  He  had  not  taken  it 
up,  as  he  had  taken  slavery,  on  trust.  He  had  thought 
out  the  problem  for  himself,  and  he  remained  unshaken 
in  his  convictions.  Whether  he  knew  it  or  not,  he  had 
taken  a  distinct  step  away  from  the  slaveholding  oligar- 
chy in  the  direction  of  freedom.  In  order  to  promote 
his  laudable  object,  he  threw  up  the  law  and  took  to  the 
gospel.  He  became  a  Methodist  preacher  as  the  like- 
liest means  of  reaching  the  hearts  and  heads  of  the 
people  whom  he  desired  to  benefit.  The  Baltimore 
Methodist  Conference  speedily  appinted  him  to  the 
charge  of  some  twelve  congregations.  One  of  these 
happily  lay  in  a  section  of  country  settled  by  Quakers, 
and  consequently  unpolluted  by  any  taint  of  slavery. 
He  saw  prosperous  agriculturists  and  happy,  free,  edu- 
cated negro  laborers,  and  the  scales  began  to  fall  from 
his  eyes.  He  had  never  dreamed  of  such  a  state  of 
society.     At  first  he  was  bewildered ;  but  an  aged 


MONCUEE   DANIEL   CONWAY.  247 

Quaker,  whose  acquaintance  he  had  made,  eventually 
enabled  him  to  turn  a  steady,  admiring  gaze  on  the 
rising  sun  of  negro  emancipation. 

"  Up,  up!  and  the  dusky  race 
Tkat  sat  in  darkness  long, 
Be  swift  his  feet  as  antelope's, 
And  as  behemoth  strong." 

"Again,"  says  Mr.  Conway,  "I  visited  the  old 
Quaker  patriarch,  and  told  him  with  what  delight  I 
had  found  that  the  interior  of  Sandy  Spring  was  even 
more  attractive  than  its  exterior.  '  Now,  friend,  can 
thee  account  for  this  evident  superiorit}'  of  the  Friends' 
neighborhood  over  the  rest  of  this  county,  or  of  thy 
own  State?  '  — '  Well,'  I  ventured,  '  doubtless  you  have 
certain  habits  of  thrift  and  industry  which  others  have 
not.'  — '  Perhaps  it  is  so,'  said  the  old  man,  gravely. 
After  which  followed  a  long  silence,  which  I  felt 
belonged  to  him,  and  was  for  him  to  break.  Then  he 
turned  his  eyes  —  at  once  luminous  and  keen  —  full 
upon  me,  and  said,  '  But  there  is  one  habit  of  our 
people  to  which  thee  will  find,  should  thee  search  into 
it,  is  to  be  traced  all  the  improved  condition  of  our 
lands  and  our  homes  ;  that  is,  the  habit  of  taking  care 
that  our  laborers  get  just  wages  for  their  worJc.  No 
slave  has  touched  any  sod  in  any  field  of  Sandy 
Spring.'  " 

These  simple  words  eventually  converted  the  reluc- 
tant secretarj^  of  the  Southern  Rights  Club  into  an 
uncompromising  abolitionist.  Henceforth  his  duty, 
with  respect  to  the  gi-eat  social  problem  of  his  time  and 
country,  was  clear  to  him. 

The  change  in  his  religious  conceptions  was  no  less 


248    EMINENT  LIBERALS  OUT   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

striking.  About  the  time  of  the  Moody  and  Sankey 
revivals,  Mr.  Conway  gave  an  account  of  his  own 
conversion  almost  unparalleled  in  its  candor :  "It 
was  my  destiny  to  be  born  in  a  region  where  this  kind 
of  excitement  is  almost  chronic.  .  .  .  When  the 
summer  came  the  leading  Methodist  families  —  of 
which  my  father's  was  one  —  went  to  dwell  in  the 
woods  in  tents.  About  two  weeks  were  there  spent  in 
praying  and  preaching  all  the  day  long,  pausing  only 
for  meals ;  and  during  all  that  time  the  enclosure  in 
front  of  the  pulpit  was  covered  over  with  screaming 
men  and  women,  and  frightened  children.  .  .  .  While 
I  was  there  women  came  and  wept  over  me  ;  preachers 
quoted  Scripture  to  me.  No  one  whispered  to  me  that 
I  should  resolve  to  be  better,  — more  upright,  true,  and 
kind.  Hundreds  were  converted  by  my  side,  and 
broke  out  into  wild  shouts  of  joy ;  but  I  had  no  new 
experience  whatever.  I  was  not  in  the  least  a  sceptic  : 
I  believed  every  word  told  me.  Yet  nothing  took 
place  at  all.  On  a  certain  evening  I  swooned.  When 
I  came  to  myself  I  was  stretched  out  on  the  floor  with 
friends  singing  around  me,  and  the  preachers  informed 
me  that  I  had  been  the  subject  of  the  most  admirable 
work  of  divine  gi-ace  they  had  ever  witnessed.  I  took 
their  word  for  it.  All  I  knew  was  that  I  was  thor- 
oughly exhausted,  and  was  ill  for  a  week."  But  he 
did  not  take  their  word  for  it  for  an  unreasonable  time. 
In  1852  his  religious  as  well  as  his  social  ideas  under- 
went modifications  so  important  that  he  determined 
to  betake  himself  to  Harvard  Universit}',  where  the 
dominant  theologj'  is  Unitarian.  Here  he  gi'aduatcd 
B.D.  in  1854,  having  in  the  interval  contracted  lasting 
friendships  with  Emerson,  Parker,  Stunner,  Phillips, 
and  others,  the  best  hearts  and  heads  in  the  republic. 


MONCURE  DANIEL  CONWAY.  249 

After  completing  his  studies,  he  returned  with  fond 
hopes  to  his  home  in  Virginia.  But  it  was  only  to  find 
that,  as  an  abolitionist,  his  own  flesh  and  blood  regard- 
ed him  as  a  leper.  Eventually  a  company  of  young 
men  confronted  him  in  the  street,  and  warned  him  that 
he  must  henceforth  regard  himself  as  a  perpetual  exile 
from  Virginia,  kindly  adding  that  he  had  been  spared 
tar  and  feathers  solely  on  his  parents'  account.  There- 
upon he  again  turned  his  steps  towards  the  free  North, 
and  in  1854  he  was  appointed  minister  of  the  Unitarian 
church  in  Washington,  but  did  not  long  find  rest  for 
the  sole  of  his  foot.  An  antislavery  sermon  which  he 
preached,  in  denunciation  of  the  dastardly  outrage  on 
Senator  Sumner  by  Preston  Brooks,  led  to  his  dismissal 
by  the  most  liberal  and  antislavery  congregation  in 
Washington,  In  185£  he  was  invited  by  the  Unitari- 
ans of  Cincinnati  to  become  their  pastor,  and  there 
some  of  his  most  useful  and  brilliant  discourses  were 
delivered.  But  his  mind  was  absorbed  in  the  impend- 
ing conflict  with  the  slave-power,  and  he  ultimately 
became  an  abolitionist  lecturer  in  Ohio  and  the  Middle 
States.  And  his  pen  was  as  busy  in  the  work  of  eman- 
cipation as  his  tongue.  In  1858  were  published 
"Tracts  for  To-day ;  "  in  1861  came  "The  Rejected 
Stone;"  in  1862,  "  The  Golden  Hour."  AU  these 
were  powerful  weapons  put  into  the  hands  of  the 
abolitionists;  "The  Rejected  Stone,"  in  particular, 
making  a  defep  impression  on  the  mind  of  the  martj'r- 
president,  Abraham  Lincoln.  Subsequently  he  be- 
came the  flrst  editor  of  "  The  Boston  Commonwealth," 
—  a  high-class  weekly,  primai-ily  started  as  an  abolition 
organ.  Meanwhile,  his  father  and  his  two  brothers 
threw  in  their  lot  with  the  secessionists,  the  young 
men  both  receiving  wounds  in  the  fratricidal  struggle. 


250    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT  OF   PARLIAMENT. 

At  last,  when  the  tramp  of  the  Federal  soldiers  was 
heard  in  the  streets  of  the  little  town  whence  Conway 
had  been  driven  in  1854,  he  hastened  to  the  spot  to 
assist  the  slaves  of  his  father's  household  to  escape 
to  the  free  North-West.  B3'  dint  of  great  exertions  he 
found  the  fugitives.  The  old  woman  who  had  nursed 
him  sprang  forward,  and  folded  him  in  her  arms  as  if 
he  were  still  a  chUd.  "Far  into  the  night  we  sat 
together ;  and  they  listened  with  glistening  eyes  as  I 
told  them  of  the  region  to  which  I  meant  to  take  them, 
where  never  should  they 

'  Feel  oppression, 
Never  hear  of  war  again.' 

At  the  Baltimore  Railway  Station  all  was  nearly  lost. 
A  threatening  njob  beset  the  station,  and  the  ticket- 
agent  peremptorily  intimated,  '  I  cannot  let  these 
negroes  go  on  this  road  at  an}'  price.'  I  simply  pre- 
sented my  military  order  to  this  verj'  disagreeable  and 
handsome  agent,  and  he  began  to  read  it.  He  had 
read  but  two  or  three  words  of  it,  when  he  looked  up 
with  astonishment,  and  said,  — 

"  '  The  papers  say  these  are  your  father's  slaves.'  — 
'  They  are,'  I  replied.  '  Why,  sir,  you  could  sell 
them  in  Baltimore  for  fifty  thousand  dollar^ ! '  — '  Pos- 
sibly,' I  replied.  Whereupon  (moved,  probably,  by 
supposing  that  I  was  making  a  greater  sacrifice  than 
was  the  case)  the  young  man's  face  was  unsheathed : 
'  By  God !  you  shall  have  everj'  car  on  this  road  if  you 
want  it,  and  take  the  negroes  where  you  please ! ' 
Then,  having  sold  me  the  tickets,  he  gave  his  ticket- 
selling  to  a  subordinate,  and  went  out  to  secure  us  a 
car  to  ourselves ;  and  from  that  moment,  though  the 


MONCURE  DANIEL   CONWAY.  251 

imprecatious  around  us  went  on,  our  way  was  made 
smooth." 

In  1863  Mr.  Conwaj'^  was  commissioned  by  the 
friends  of  abolition  to  come  to  England  to  try  to 
influence  English  as  he  had  American  opinion  in  favor 
of  the  Federal  cause,  and  in  this  good  work  he  was 
engaged  when  the  Confederacy  suddenly  collapsed. 
At  that  juncture  South-place  Chapel  was  in  need  of  a 
pastor ;  and  who  so  able  to  discharge  the  duties  as  this 
transatlantic  iconoclast  and  idealist,  who  brought 
with  him  to  the  old  world  the  best  manhood  of  the 
new? 

In  1875  he  revisited  the  West  on  a  lecturing-tour, 
and  was  received  by  his  long-estranged  family,  and  by 
his  countrj^men  generally,  with  open  arms.  He  was 
offered  the  pastorate  of  Theodore  Parker's  old  church 
in  Boston,  but  preferred  to  return  to  England,  where 
the  battle  with  theological  obscurantism  and  political 
oligarchy  is  more  arduous.  England  has  sent  so  many 
of  her  good  and  brave  men  to  America,  that  it  is  but 
right  that  the  latter  should  begin  to  return  the  compli- 
ment. 

Mr.  Conwa}',  needless  to  say,  remains  a  stanch 
republican.  Like  all  intelligent  American  citizens 
whom  I  have  known,  the  more  he  has  studied  our  po- 
litical institutions,  the  less  he  has  been  captivated  by 
them.  His  little  work,  "  Republican  Superstitions," 
is  the  best  commentary  on  the  working  of  ' '  our  glori- 
ous constitution"  that  I  know.  Therein  he  shows, 
with  incontrovertible  logic,  and  complete  mastery  of 
details,  that  it  is  precisely  the  monarchical  elements, 
thoughtlessly  or  superstitiouslj'  imported. into  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  by  its  framers,  that  have 


252    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OP  PARLIAMENT. 

worked  all  the  mischief  in  the  republic.  He  would 
have  but  one  chamber,  returned  by  equal  constituencies, 
with  a  chief  magistrate  and  executive  du'cctly  eligible 
by,  and  responsible  to,  the  legislature.  A  second 
chamber,  if  it  is  opposed  to  the  popular  house,  is 
noxious  ;  if  it  is  in  harmony  with  it,  it  is  superfluous. 

Mr.  Conway  has  learned,  by  the  sad  experience  of 
his  own  beloved  republic,  how  disastrous  a  thing  is  the 
doctrine  of  state  rights  or  home  rule.  Let  this  Radical 
of  Radicals  speak  a  word  in  season  to  those  undiscem- 
ing  ones  in  England,  who  in  this  matter  seem  in  haste 
to  confound  purblind  re-action  with  action,  retrogression 
with  progression :  — 

"Could  there  be  a  more  cruel  concession  made  by 
England  to  Ireland  than  that  very  home  rule  for  which 
so  earnest  a  demand  is  now  made  ?  Whether  England 
should  concede  complete  independence  to  Ireland  may 
be'  a  question ;  but  to  raise  up  in  Ireland  ambitions 
that  at  some  point  must  be  checked,  to  give  embodi- 
ment to  aspirations  and  interests  which  no  sooner  reach 
their  development  than  thej'  will  be  certainlj'  crushed, 
were  the  gift  of  weak  indulgence,  and  by  no  means 
that  of  true  generosit}'.  For  every  concession  the 
Northern  people  made  to  '  state  sovereignty '  in  the 
South,  several  thousand  Southerners  had  to  be  slain 
in  the  end." 


VIII. 

JAMES  ALLANSON  PICTON. 

"  '  Come  wander  with  me,'  she  said, 
*  Into  regions  yet  untrod, 
And  read  what  is  yet  unread 
In  the  manuscripts  of  God.'  " 

JAMES  ALLANSON  PICTON,  the  author  of "  The 
Mystery  of  Matter,"  is  one  of  those  rare  per- 
sons who,  to  use  his  own  quaint  phrase,  have  "gone 
through  materialism,  and  come  out  at  the  other  side." 
S"ueh  an  explorer,  it  will  readily  be  admitted,  well  de- 
serves a  place  in  this  or  any  other  series  of  pioneers  of 
progress.  But  I  would  rather  not  be  the  chronicler  of 
his  toilsome  journey.  No  wonder  if  the  St.  Thomas's- 
square  congregation,  Hackney,  found  difficulty  in  fol- 
lowing their  spiritual  guide  on  his  dim  and  perilous  way. 
But,  though  the  path  which  Mr.  Picton  has  cleft 
through  the  materialistic  jungle  be  arduous  for  ordinary 
mortals  to  tread,  it  is,  in  my  opinion,  the  best  that  has 
yet  been  cleared.  "  Narrow  is  the  way  that  leadeth 
unto  life,  and  few  there  be  that  find  it."  Mr.  Picton 
makes  a  clean  sweep  of  the  supernatural,  but  imparts 
to  the  natural  a  lofty  significance  which  more  than  com- 
pensates for  the  loss.  "All  forms  of  finite  existence 
may,  for  aught  I  care,  be  reduced  to  modes  of  motion  ; 
but  motion  itself  has  become  to  me  only  the  phenom- 

253 


254    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

enal  manifestation  of  the  ener^  of  an  infinite  life,  in 
"which  it  is  a  joy  to  be  lost.  To  me  the  doctrine  of  an 
eternal  continuity  of  development  has  no  terrors ;  for, 
believing  matter  to  be,  in  its  ultimate  essence,  spiritual, 
I  see  in  every  cosmic  revolution  a  '  change  from  glory 
to  glorj',  as  by  the  Spu'it  of  the  Lord.'  I  can  look 
down  the  uncreated,  unbeginning  past  without  the 
sickness  of  bewildered  faith.  My  Father  worketh 
hitherto.  My  sense  of  eternal  order  is  no  longer  jarred 
by  the  sudden  appearance  in  the  universe  of  a  dead, 
inane  substance  foreign  to  God  and  spiritual  being." 

"  Thus  at  the  roaring  loom  of  time  I  ply, 
And  weave  for  God  the  mantle  thou  seest  him  by." 

All  religions,  properly  so  called,  conceive  of  phe- 
nomena as  the  outcome  of  an  eternal,  incomprehensible 
power,  ' '  which  makes  for  righteousness  ' '  throughout 
the  universe.  Every  irreligious  system,  on  the  other 
hand,  regards  the  phenomenal  altogether  apart  from  its 
source.  The  question  then  arises.  Which  way  of  look- 
ing at  the  mighty  enigma  is  the  more  philosophic  ?  The 
positivists  repl}',  and  Mr.  Bradlaugh  replies,  "  AYe 
know  nothing  of  the  source,  nor  can  know."  But 
their  parade  of  ignorance  almost  presupposes  the  reality 
of  that  of  which  they  profess  to  be  ignorant. 

"  The  same  intellectual  constitution  which  makes 
science  possible  —  the  impulse  to  seek  after  the  reason 
of  things  and  their  completeness — implies  in  its  verj' 
germ  an  already  existing,  though  inarticulate,  belief  in 
ultimate  substance  and  in  an  infinite  unity.  Further, 
the  very  fact  that  our  mental  faculties  cannot  work 
without  suggesting  this  dim  majesty  which  is  beyond 
their  ken,  compels  a  constant  reference  thereto,  which, 


JAMES   ALLANSON   PICTON.  266 

as  it  is  involved  in  the  laws  of  thought,  cannot  be 
without  practical  import."  Our  positivist  brethren 
will,  of  course,  seek  to  impugn  the  validity  of  such 
reasoning ;  but  they  are,  a§  a  rule,  persons  so  super- 
stitiously  anti-superstitious  that  their  objections  may  be 
discounted  almost  by  anticipation.  In  any  case  Mr. 
Picton  believes  that  he  has  passed  clean  through  the 
prevalent  materialism,  and  emerged  into  a  spiritual 
effulgence,  which  irradiates,  in  some  degree,  the  darkest 
crannies  of  human  destiny.  He  has  unbounded  faith, 
that  is  to  say  loyalty,  to  the  divine  will,  as  he  appre- 
hends it. 

But,  if  his  own  faith  in  the  Eternal  overflows,  his 
charity  towards  those  who  have  stopped  midway  in  the 
ascent  of  the  materialistic  hill  of  difficulty  is  equally 
without  limit.  "  Take  the  philosopher,"  he  says,  "  who 
thought  out,  or  thinks  he  has  thought  out,  his  system 
of  the  universe.  Finding  no  place  therein  for  a  God 
such  as  he  was  taught  to  speak  about  and  dream  about 
in  his  chUdish  years,  he  calmly  says,  '  There  is  no  God 
at  all. '  .  .  .  He  is  confident  in  his  system  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  is  assured  that  it  always  works  together 
under  the  same  conditions  to  the  same  ends.  He  would 
stake  his  life  upon  the  certainty  that  impurity  and  du- 
plicity and  dishonesty  must  bring  misery  and  confusion 
into  the  commonwealth.  Now,  such  a  man  has  far 
more  trust  in  the  Lord  than  ever  he  supposes.  Through 
despair  of  presenting  that  inconceivable  Being  in  any 
form  whatever  to  his  consciousness,  he  fancies  that  he 
dispenses  with  the  thought  entu'ely.  But  the  more 
nearly  he  comes  to  a  realization  of  oneness  in  that 
system  of  the  universe  which  he  thinks  he  has  wrought 
out,  the  more  nearly  does  he  come  to  the  thought  of 


256    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT  OF'  PARLIAMENT. 

God.  The  more  confidently  he  rests  in  the  certain 
working  of  moral  as  well  as  of  physical  laws,  the  more 
does  he  manifest  that  which,  in  our  minds,  is  equivalent 
to  trust  in  the  Lord.  Under  any  form  of  religion,  and 
under  no  form  of  professed  religion,  then,  the  exhor- 
tation of  the  text,  '  Trust  in  the  Lord  and  do  good,' 
ma^  be  canied  out,  and  its  creed  asserted."  In  a 
word,  Mr.  Picton's  charity  induces  him  to  ascribe 
religion  to  the  professedly  in'eligious.  He  compels 
them  to  come  in. 

Discussing  the  problem  of  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  he  says,  "  We  should  not  repine  if  the  larger  life 
beyond  death  remains  a  hope  too  grand  for  any  earthly 
form.  I  live, — this  I  know  ;  and  all  around  me  is  a 
Power,  immeasurable,  inscrutable,  of  which  I  can  only 
think  that  it  lives  more  grandly  and  mightily  than  I, 
folding  me  in  its  embrace,  and  making  a  reverent  feel- 
ing of  my  own  nothingness  the  supreme  bliss.  Whence 
I  came  I  know  not ;  whither  I  go  I  cannot  tell :  but 
every  moment  of  true  communion  with  the  Infinite 
opens  out  eternity.  Whatever  tenfold  complicated 
change  has  happened  or  may  come,  however  strangely 
the  bounds  which  now  limit  my  personal  life  may  be 
broken  through,  however  unimaginably  my  conscious- 
ness of  God  may  be  enlarged,  it  is  impossible  that  the 
more  real  can  be  merged  in  the  less  real ;  and,  while 
material  phenomena  are  but  phantoms,  God  himself  only 
is  more  real  than  I." 

The  above  quotations  give  but  a  faint  impression  of 
this  remarkable  work,  "The  Mystery  of  Matter," 
which,  along  with  an  earlier  volume,  "New  Theories 
and  the  Old  Faith,"  goes  further  towards  revivifying 
true  religion,  by  rendering  it  credible,  than  aU  the 


JAMES   ALLANSON   PICTOISr.  257 

heavy  tomes  of  orthodox  theology  which  have  appeared 
within  the  last  decade.  Mr.  Picton  has  combined 
science,  logic,  disciplined  imagination,  and  fervent 
piety  in  the  execution  of  a  task  of  immense  difflcult}'^ ; 
and  the  result  is  a  cogent  testimony  to  the  indestructi- 
bility of  essential  religion  in  the  soul  of  man. 

"  Still  Thou  talkest  with  Thy  children 
Freely  as  in  eld  sublime ; 
Humbleness  and  truth  and  patience 
Still  give  empire  over  time." 

James  Allanson  Picton  was  born  in  Liverpool  in  the 
historic  3'ear  of  reform,  1832.  His  father,  whose  name 
was  recently  so  honorably  before  the  public  as  the 
originator  and  chairaian  of  the  Liverpool  Free  Library 
and  Museum,  was  then  a  well-to-do  architect,  a  stanch 
Liberal  in  a  communit}'  abounding  in  political  re-action- 
aries,  a  cultivator  of  letters  in  a  hive  of  commercial 
industry.  He  is  the  author  of  the  "  Memorials  of 
Liverpool,"  a  model  work  of  the  land,  and  would 
now  have  been  occupying  the  ma3"oralty  chair  in  the 
town  council  but  for  unscrupulous  aldermanic  partisan- 
ship. 

At  an  early  age  young  Picton  was  sent  to  what  was 
then  known  as  the  High  School,  the  upper  branch  of  the 
Mechanics'  Institution,  where  up  to  his  sixteenth  year 
he  continued  to  make  steady  progress  in  all  the  ordi- 
nary, and  some  of  the  extraordinary,  branches  of  stud}'. 
On  leaving  school,  Picton  entered  his  father's  office, 
and  for  the  next  three  years  of  his  life  diligently  set 
himself  to  master  the  requirements  of  the  paternal  pro- 
fession, which,  if  he  had  continued  to  follow  it,  would 
pretty  certainly  have  been  to  him  a  lucrative  calling. 


258    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

But  eventually  he  abandoned  it  for,  as  he  believed,  a 
higher,  if  less  remunerative,  occupation. 

Inspired  from  his  youth  up  with  philanthropic  senti- 
ments, Picton  had  become  an  enthusiastic  Sunday- 
school  teacher ;  and  this  experience  led  him  to  think  of 
the  ministry  as  a  suitable  sphere  of  action.  He  was 
never  very  orthodox  in  his  religious  beliefs :  how 
could  a  mind  capable  of  such  profound  speculation  so 
be?  But  he  had  an  eye  to  his  main  object,  —  the  moral 
elevation  of  the  poor  and  ignorant ;  and  he  decided  that 
the  pastoral  fulcrum  of  Independent  Nonconformity  was 
the  best  for  his  purpose,  which  may  be  doubted.  Ac- 
cordingly, at  nineteen  years  of  age,  he  resumed  his 
studies,  and  was  entered  simultaneously  as  a  student  of 
the  Lancashire  Independent  College  and  of  Owens  Col- 
lege, Manchester.  At  the  latter  institution  he  stood 
first  in  classics  at  his  final  examination.  In  1855  he 
took  the  master's  degree  in  classics  at  London  Univer- 
sity, and  his  academic  studies  were  at  an  end.  In 
1856  Mr.  Ficton's  career  as  an  Independent  minister 
began.  The  start  was  not  promising.  Suspected  of 
heterodoxy,  he  was  black-balled  by  the  zealous  shep- 
herds of  the  Manchester  ministers'  meeting,  who  ap- 
pear to  have  applied  to  him  pretty  much  the  now  some- 
what obsolete  argimient,  "  He  is  an  atheist.  Ecce  sig- 
num!  he  doesn't  believe  in  the  Devil." 

"  Careless  seems  the  great  Avenger;  history's  pages  but  record 
One  death-grapple  in  the  darkness  'twixt  old  systems  and 
the  Word." 

The  orthodox  pastors,  however,  had  gone  a  step  too 
far.  Public  opinion  strongly  manifested  itself  against 
such  an  act  of  barefaced  intolerance  ;  and,  by  a  suspen- 


JAMES   ALLANSON  PICTON.  269 

sion  of  rules,  Mr.  Picton  was  admitted  to  the  pastorate 
of  a  congregation  at  Cheetham  Hill,  Manchester. 

His  work  there  lay  chiefly  among  the  poor  and  desti- 
tute, for  whom  no  man  seemed  to  care.  For  the  chil- 
dren he  composed  a  model  little  ' '  Catechism  of  the 
Gospels  ;  "  and  for  the  instruction  of  adults  he  and  Mr. 
Arthur  Mursell  delivered  weekly  lectures  on  suitable 
subjects  in  the  large  room  of  a  ''ragged  school."  In 
1862,  however,  while  thus  beneficently  engaged,  the 
buU's-eye  of  orthodoxy  was  again  turned  on  him.  In 
connection  with  the  centenary  of  ' '  Elack  Bartholo- 
mew," he  published  a  discourse  entitled  "  The  Chiis- 
tian  Law  of  Progress,"  which  was  pronounced  to  be 
"  of  dangerous  tendency."  Thereupon  the  heretic  re- 
moved to  Leicester,  where  he  succeeded  to  Dr.  Legge's 
charge  ;  but  his  "  tendencies,"  it  is  deplorable  to  relate, 
became  worse  instead  of  better.  He  fell  into  bad  com- 
pany, particularly  that  of  Mr.  Coe,  the  Unitarian  min- 
ister, and  a  powerful  contingent  of  Radical  working- 
men,  whom  he  was  in  the  habit  of  addressing  in  his 
chapel  on  Sunday  afternoons  on  such  unhallowed  topics 
as  "True  Radicalism,"  "The  Rights  of  Man,"  the 
death  of  Ernest  Jones,  the  Jamaica  outrages  under 
Gov.  Eyre,  &c.  As  in  Galilee,  so  in  Leicester,  the 
common  people  heard  their  teacher  gladl}^ ;  but  the  un- 
common folks  took  a  different  view  of  the  matter. 
What  amounted  to  a  vote  of  want  of  confidence  in  Mr. 
Picton 's  ministry  was  passed ;  and,  though  very  active 
steps  were  taken  to  prevent  his  departure  from  Leices- 
ter, the  heresiarch  felt  constrained  to  turn  his  face  to- 
wards oiu-  metropolitan  Babylon,  which,  with  all  her 
drawbacks,  is  generally  large-hearted  enough  to  wel- 
come able  and  earnest  exponents  of  the  most  diverse 
opinions,  whether  religious  or  political. 


260    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT   OP  PARLIAMENT. 

In  1869  Mr.  Picton  succeeded  to  the  pastorate  of  St. 
Thomas's  Square,  Hackney.  Here  his  "  tendencies  " 
were  as  bad  as  ever.  He  resumed  his  evil  habit  of 
Sundaj'^  lecturing,  and  the  intelligent  artisans  of  the 
neighborhood  flocked  to  hear  him.  For  two  successive 
seasons  the  critical  period  of  English  history  from  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth  to  the  revolution  of  1688  was  sub- 
jected to  systematic  criticism,  and  Mr.  Picton  was  never 
more  gratified  than  by  the  appreciation  of  solid  instruc- 
tion exhibited  by  his  auditors.  A  working-men's  club 
was  next  started,  —  an  institution  which  survives  in  the 
Borough  of  Hackney  Working-men's  Club,  one  of  the 
most  useful  and  prosperous  undei-takings  of  the  kind  in 
London.  In  1870  preparations  for  the  first  London 
School  Board  election  began,  and  Mr.  Picton  was  among 
those  who  were  solicited  bj'  the  electors  to  offer  them- 
selves as  candidates.  He  complied  ;  and,  though  then 
necessarily  but  little  known  to  the  general  London  pub- 
lic, seciu-ed  a  seat  through  the  devotion  of  his  friends, 
more  particularly  those  of  the  working-class.  And  the 
confidence  then  reposed  in  him  was  twice  renewed  with 
even  greater  emphasis  by  the  constituency.  For  three 
years  he  filled  a  most  responsible  post  on  the  committee 
of  school  management,  before  which  are  laid  all  the 
details  of  school  affairs. 

Throughout  an  advocate  of  "  education,  secular,  com- 
pulsory, and  free,"  he  was  not  unnaturally  believed 
by  many  besides  myself  to  have  deserted  the  Kadical 
standard  in  favor  of  the  present  immoral  "compro- 
mise" of  the  religious  difllculty, — the  offspring  of  a 
foul  liaison  between  church  and  chapel.  But  this,  I 
am  assured,  is  a  misapprehension  of  Mr.  Picton's 
position.     Finding  that  the  compromisers,  while  pre- 


JAMES   ALLANSON   PICTON".  261 

tending  to  exclude  from  the  schoolrooms  one  catechism, 
had  practically  introduced  as  many  creeds  as  the  total 
number  of  sects  to  which  board  teachers  belong,  he 
exerted  himself,  with  very  limited  success,  to  mitigate 
the  evil  by  increasing  the  moral  at  the  expense  of  the 
theological  instruction.  As  it  is,  Mr.  Picton,  after 
nine  j'ears'  hard  work  on  the  board,  has  been  com- 
pelled, chiefly  by  the  unsatisfactory  state  of  his  health, 
to  seek  a  temporary  respite  from  public  duties  ;  and  the 
minds  of  our  chQdren  are  meantime  at  the  mercy  of  a 
motley  crew  of  Romanist,  Anglican,  Ritualist,  Baptist, 
Presb\'terian,  Unitarian,  and  atheist  instructors,  to 
make  or  mar  at  their  good  pleasure.  The  result  is  easy 
to  predict,  —  a  general  sapping  of  the  foundations,  both 
of  religion  and  morals.  Biiiningham  in  this  matter 
has  fallen  low  enough  ;  but  she  has  not  jet  reached  the 
metropolitan  depth  of  degradation. 

Some  months  ago  Mr.  Picton  resigned  his  pastorate 
of  the  St.  Thomas's-square  congregation,  and  he  is  at 
present  enjojing  a  well-merited  rest  from  his  labors. 
He  does  not  intend  to  resume  ministerial  functions.  I 
believe,  but  possibly'  to  throw  his  entire  energies  into 
literar}'  and  political  pursuits.  The  gifted  authoress  of 
"  The  True  History-  of  Joshua  Davidson  "  hazards  the 
prediction  that  if  Christ,  who ' '  went  about  doing  good, ' ' 
were  to  re-appear  on  the  earth  in  our  da}',  it  would  be 
in  the  character  of  a  Radical  politician ;  and,  if  it  is 
meant  simply  that  the  platform  and  the  press  are  now 
more  powerful  agencies  for  good  or  evil  than  the  pulpit, 
it  were  hard  to  differ  from  her.  Able,  single-minded 
men  like  Picton  are  sadly  wanted  in  Parliament ;  and 
the  churches  will,  as  a  rale,  be  glad  to  be  rid  of  persons 
of  such  "dangerous  tendencies."     His  political  con- 


262    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OP  PARLIAMENT. 

tributions  to  "The  Fortnightly,"  "  Macmillan,"  and 
"  The  Weekh'  Dispatch,"  have,  apart  from  his  platform 
utterances,  marked  him  out  as  a  vigorous  political 
thinker,  on  whom  Kadical  constituencies  should  keep 
an  eye.  He  is  a  tiied  soldier  in  the  ranks  of  democ- 
racy, who  well  desei-ves  promotion  at  the  people's 
hands,  all  the  more  so  because  he  would  be  the  last  to 
seek  it. 


IX. 


FREDERICK  AUGUSTUS  MAXSE. 

"  To  side  with  Truth  is  noble 
When  we  share  her  wretched  crust, 
Ere  her  cause  bring  fame  and  profit 
And  'tis  prosperous  to  be  just." 

IT  Is  now  several  years  since  I  first  chanced  to  meet 
Rear- Admiral  Maxse  at  a  Reform  conference ; 
but,  until  quite  recently,  I  have  had  no  opportunity  of 
verifying  my  early  impressions.  These,  with  certain 
reservations,  were  of  a  most  favorable  kind  ;  and  they 
have  been  abundantly  confirmed  on  closer  acquaintance. 
Maxse  is.  What  so  very  few  Englishmen  are,  an  ideal- 
ist in  politics,  a  singularly  poor  hand  at  a  compromise. 
Instead  of  accommodating  his  theory  to  the  facts,  he 
strives  to  bend  the  facts  to  his  theory.  With  sailor-like 
single-mindedness,  he  has  an  awkward  trick  —  awkwaixi 
in  a  politician  —  of  making  use  of  language  in  order  to 
express  his  meaning,  instead  of  concealing  it,  as  a  good 
wire-puller  should.  His  more  candid  political  friends, 
consequently,  complain  that  he  cannot  be  got,  even  at 
critical  electoral  seasons,  to  recognize  the  advantage  of 
calling  a  spade  an  elongated  agricultural  implement. 
Hence  the  damning  suspicion  which  obtains  in  certain 
quarters  that  the  admiral  is,  with  all  his  ability,  "  im- 
practicable."    An  Englishman,  and  not  "  practical  "  ! 

263 


264    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OF   PAKLIAMENT. 

IIow  could  such  a  one  hope  to  enter  in  at  the  strait 
gate  which  leadeth  to  St.  Stephen's?  Impracticabilit}' 
were  a  grievous  fault,  and  grievously  did  the  gallant 
admiral  answer  it  at  Southampton  in  18G8,  and  in  the 
Tower  Hamlets  in  1874.  But  the  fault;  and  I  frankly' 
admit  its  existence,  lay  at  least  as  much  with  the 
admiral's  critics  as  with  himself.  If  he  were  too  much 
devoted  to  the  ideal,  they  were  too  little.  I  agree,  for 
once,  with  the  prophet  of  "sweetness  and  light,"  that 
"  Philistia  has  come  to  be  thought  b}-  us  as  the  true 
land  of  promise.  The  born  lover  of  ideas,  the  born 
hater  of  conunonplaces,  must  feel  in  this  countrj^  that 
the  sk}'  over  his  head  is  of  brass  and  iron." 

Now,  Admiral  IMaxse  is  a  born  lover  of  ideas,  a  bom 
hater  of  commonplaces,  and  he  has  never  been  adequate- 
ly able  to  apprehend  how  inaccessible  are  the  vast 
majority  of  his  countrymen  to  such  sentiments.  In 
this  sense  has  he  shown  himself  really  impracticable. 
Among  a  quicker-witted  and  more  logical  people  like 
the  French,  the  chances  are  that  he  would  have  found 
himself  quite  at  home.  He  ought  to  have  known  Eng- 
lishmen better.  A  London  constituenc}',  unlike  a 
Parisian,  will  alwa3-s  prefer  a  gluttonous  alderman  with 
a  marked  aversion  to  the  letter  h  to  the  profoundest 
philosopher  or  to  the  truest  philanthropist.  Blessed  is 
the  cultivated  Radical  who  expects  little  of  the  average 
English  elector,  for  he  shall  not  be  disappointed. 
Admiral  I\Iaxse,  I  have  heard  it  said,  has  been  seriousl}' 
disappointed  b}'^  his  political  experiences.  Not  disap- 
pointed, though  disenchanted  he  has  certainly  been. 
But,  like  other  true  soldiers  of  democracy,  he  has 
"  learned  to  labor  and  to  wait." 

The  disillusioning  process  is  always  a  painful  one  for 


FREDEEICK  AUGUSTUS   MAXSE.  265 

a  lofty,  ardent  nature  like  Maxse's  ;  but  it  is  salutaiy 
all  the  same.  It  does  not  alter,  by  a  hair's  breadth, 
one's  sense  of  duty,  while  it  teaches  invaluable  lessons 
of  method  and  adaptation  in  relation  to  the  social 
environment.  I'rogress,  though  inevitable,  is  seldom 
to  be  obtained  by  a  coup. 

"  We  see  dimly  in  the  present  what  is  small  and  what  is  great; 
Slow  of  faith,  how  weak  an  arm  may  turn  the  iron  helm  of 
fate." 

Frederick  Augustus  Maxse  was  born  in  London  in 
the  3'ear  1833.  He  is  now  consequently  in  the  full 
vigor  of  manhood,  lithe  of  limb,  and  intrepid  of  car- 
riage, —  every  inch  an  "  officer  and  a  gentleman."  He 
is  on  the  retired  list ;  but  in  an  emergency  he  might 
well  become  the  Blake  of  a  second  commonwealth. 
Speculative,  perhaps  somewhat  chimerical,  in  religion 
and  politics,  he  is  yet  obviously  a  man  of  action,  a 
bom  commander  of  men.  His  father,  James  Maxse, 
was  a  Tory  squire  of  the  old  school,  who  had  inherited 
immense  wealth,  honorably  acquired  by  the  Maxse 
family  as  merchants  in  Bristol.  He  was  one  of  the 
best  heavj'-weight  riders  across  country  of  his  gener- 
ation ;  and,  as  for  his  feats,  have  they  not  been  duly 
recorded  by  Nimrod  in  connection  with  the  famous 
Melton  meets?  On  the  mother's  side  the  admiral  is  a 
Berkeley,  his  mother  being  Lady  Caroline  IMaxse, 
daughter  of  the  fifth  Earl  of  Berkeley.  The  Berkeleys 
have  for  generations  been  noted  for  great  physical 
toughness  and  consistent  political  Whiggerj-,  the  late 
"Ballot"  Berkeley,  M.P.  for  Bristol,  being  Maxse's 
uncle.  Family  politics,  however,  never  influenced  the 
admiral's  opinions  in  the   least.     He   left  home    too 


266    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT   OF  PARLIAMENT. 

early  for  that.  He  was  afloat  in  his  thirteenth  year, 
having  previously  attended  suceessivel}'  good  private 
schools  at  Brighton,  Hampton,  and  Paris.  In  Paris  he 
acquired  a  mastery  of  the  French  language,  which  he 
has  since  found  of  the  greatest  benefit.  His  interest  in 
French  politics  is  at  least  as  keen  as  in  those  of  his 
own  country.  He  is  on  terms  of  intimacj'^  with  nearl}' 
all  the  great  men  of  the  Third  Republic,  with  whom  he 
has  so  much  more  in  common  than  with  the  ruck  of 
English  Liberals, 

Excellent  busts  of  Hugo  and  Gambetta  —  the  best  I 
have  seen  —  adorn  his  mantel-piece  at  The  Chestnuts, 
Wimbledon,  where  all  things  bespeak  the  apple-pie 
order  of  the  captain's  cabin.  One  room  is  entirely 
hung  with  marine  drawings,  consisting  chiefly  of  ships 
in  which  the  owner  had  sailed.  His  first  ship,  which 
he  joined  on  passing  the  examination  then  set  to  cadets, 
was  "  The  Raleigh,"  Captain  Sir  Thomas  Herbert. 
"The  Raleigh"  sailed  for  the  South  American  station, 
where  she  remained  for  three  years.  There  was  a  naval 
brigade  on  shore  to  protect  the  town  of  IMontevideo ; 
and  "The  Raleigh"  lay  lazily  off  the  coast  to  succor 
the  marines  if  need  were,  "as  idle  as  a  painted  ship 
upon  a  painted  ocean."  These  three  3'ears  Maxse  as 
good  as  completely  lost.  He  was  supposed  to  learn 
navigation ;  but  the  chaplain,  who  was  his  instructor, 
knew  little  or  nothing  about  the  subject  which  he  was 
supposed  to  teach. 

In  his  sixteenth  year  he  returned  to  England,  but 
was  speedily  again  afloat  as  midshipman  in  H.M.S. 
"  Frolic,"  Captain  Vansittart.  "  The  Frolic  "  went  to 
the  Mediterranean.  In  1852  he  served  as  lieutenant 
on  board  H,M.  sloop  "  Espiegle  "  in  the  West  Indies, 


FREDERICK  AUGUSTUS   MAXSE  267 

whence  he  was  invalided  home  just  in  time  to  take  part 
iu  the  Crimean  war.  He  was  appointed  acting  flag- 
lieutenant  to  Sir  Edmund  L^^ons,  and  sailed  for  the 
scene  of  conflict.  No  sooner  had  the  allied  troops  dis- 
embarked than  his  commanding  officer  recognized  his 
special  fitness  to  act  as  naval  aide-de-camp  to  Lord 
Raglan.  He  was  attached  to  the  headquarter  staff"  in 
naval  uniform,  but  with  a  cavalry  sword.  Prompt,  dar- 
ing, intelligent,  an  opportunity  for  earning  distinction 
was  not  long  in  occurring.  He  carried  an  important 
message  to  the  fleet  from  headquarters,  riding  across 
the  head  of  the  Bay  of  Sebastopol,  a  distance  of  fifteen 
miles,  through  a  territory  alive  with  Cossacks  and  fugi- 
tive Russian  regulars.  Happily  the  gallant  youth  ac- 
complished his  task  in  safety  ;  but  it  might  well  have 
been  otherwise.  So  much  was  Lord  Raglan  impressed 
with  this  act  of  courage  that  he  made  it  the  subject  of 
special  commendation  in  an  early  despatch,  and  young 
Maxse  was  at  once  promoted  to  the  rank  of  commander. 
The  admiral,  who  is  as  modest  as  he  is  brave,  makes 
light  of  the  matter ;  but  the  example  was  much  needed, 
and  it  had  its  effect  on  older  officers,  who,  it  may  be 
remembered,  were  at  the  time  much  hampered  in  the 
discharge  of  their  military  duties  by  "urgent  private 
affairs."  Maxse  was  subsequently  engaged  in  the  bat- 
tle of  Inkermann,  and  witnessed  "the  six  hundred" 
ride  "  into  the  jaws  of  death,  into  the  mouth  of  hell," 
at  Balaklava ;  his  brother.  Col.  Fitzhardinge  Maxse, 
acting  on  the  occasion  as  aide-de-camp  to  Lord  Cardi- 
gan. On  the  death  of  Lord  Raglan,  whose  memory  he 
fondl}'  cherishes,  he  returned  with  his  remains  to  Eng- 
land on  board  H.M.S.  "  Caradoc,"  and  was  shortly 
afterwards  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  steam-cor- 


268    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT  OP  PARLIAMENT. 

vette  "Ariel"  in  the  Mediterranean.  Thereafter  his 
promotion  in  the  service  was,  and  would  have  contin- 
ued, rapid  ;  but  circumstances  arose  which  tended  mate- 
rially to  divert  his  thoughts  from  purely  professional 
objects. 

Maxse's  education  had  been  purely  naval.  It  ought, 
I  think,  to  have  been  literary  or  philosophic.  Ideas 
take  possession  of  him  with  overpowering  force.  He 
is  their  servant  rather  than  their  master.  He  has  read 
extensively  and  closely,  but  with  passion, — I  do  not 
say  prejudice.  The  consequence  is,  that  he  is  at  times 
apt  to  see  objects  in  considerable  disproportion, — a 
defect  which  a  more  systematic  scholastic  training  in 
youth  would  have  done  much  to  cure.  While  yet  a 
"  middy,"  he  had  read  star-ej^ed  Shelley  ;  and  the  hu- 
manitarian impression  made  on  his  mind  has  never  been 
effaced.  The  seeds  of  Radicalism  were  thus  early  laid, 
though  they  took  some  little  time  to  germinate. 

"  There  is  no  wind  but  soweth  seeds 
Of  a  more  true  and  open  life, 
Which  burst,  unlooked  for,  into  high-souled  deeds, 
With  wayside  beauty  rife." 

Let  us  hear  the  admiral's  own  account  of  his  conver- 
sion to  the  gospel  of  aggressive  Radicalism:  "My 
profession  has  been  that  of  a  naval  officer.  I  was 
brought  up  to  the  tune  of  '  Rule  Britannia  '  and  '  Britons 
never  shall  be  slaves.'  Ignorant  of  politics,  when  at 
sea  I  was  indifferent  to  politics.  If  I  had  been  polled 
for  my  vote  as  a  young  lieutenant,  I  dare  say  I  should 
have  voted  Conservative,  indifferentism  forming  a  main 
element  of  Conservatism.  What  made  me  an  active 
politician  was,  when  I  came  to  live  on  shore,  observing 


FBEDERICK  AUGUSTUS   MAXSE.  269 

the  condition  of  the  English  agricultural  laborers,  I 
found  that  a  large  number  of  Britons  were  slaves, — 
slaves  to  artificial  oppressive  circumstances,  for  the 
maintenance  of  which  the  governing  classes  stood,  in 
my  eyes,  responsible  ;  and  upon  the  discovery  of  this  I 
determined,  that,  if  during  the  whole  of  my  life  I  could 
carry  but  a  single  handful  of  earth  towards  the  foun- 
dation of  a  better  state  of  society,  that  handful  I  would 
carry."  Accordingly,  the  admiral,  acting  on  his  well- 
worn  maxim,  "  People  who  do  not  care  for  politics  do 
not  care  for  then*  fellow-creatures,"  has  twice,  as  has 
been  said,  sought  the  suffrages  of  popular  constitu- 
encies. 

At  Southampton,  in  1868,  he  addressed  himself  more 
particularly  to  questions  affecting  the  land  and  educa- 
tion. He  is  a  fluent,  forcible  speaker,  too  earnest  to 
be  amusing,  but  always  attractive  because  instructive. 
You  feel  that  his  mind  is  made  up,  and  that  what  he 
says  he  will  infallibly  perform.  But  he  does  not  see 
the  by-play  of  electioneering ;  and,  from  sheer  honesty 
of  purpose  and  detestation  of  chicane,  he  falls  into  the 
most  obvious  traps  laid  for  him  by  the  enemies  of  his 
cause.  "Leading  questions"  are  put  to  him,  which 
he  answers  with  ruinous  candor.  He  knows  nothing 
of  the  Scotsman's  art  of  answering  one  inconvenient 
question  by  asking  another.  He  seems  never  even  to 
have  profited  by  the  illustrious  example  of  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's "three  courses,"  which  intimates  to  the  caviller, 
"  You  pays  your  money,  and  you  gets  3'our  choice."  It 
is  seemingly  impossible  to  get  into  the  admiral's  head 
what  is  almost  an  axiom  in  electioneering;  viz.,  that 
the  shortest  line  that  can  be  drawn  between  two  politi- 
cal points  is  often  a  mighty  circumbendibus.     Neither 


270    EMINENT  LIBERALS  OUT  OP  PABLIAMENT. 

at  Southampton  nor  in  the  Tower  Hamlets  did  the  gal- 
lant admiral  evince  the  smallest  appreciation  of  these 
elementary  campaigning  truths. 

In  the  Tower  Hamlets,  though  personally  an  abstain- 
er, he  took  strong  ground  against  the  Permissive  Bill ; 
and  he  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  publicans. 
Both  parties,  of  course,  voted  against  him.  Again: 
Liberal  churchmen  would  have  none  of  him  because  of 
his  Strong  advocacy  of  disestablishment ;  while  the 
Nonconfonnists,  to  their  everlasting  discredit,  threw 
him  completely  overboard  because  of  his  advanced 
views  regarding  the  opening  of  museums  on  Sundays. 
The  committee  of  the  Tower  Hamlets  Nonconformist 
Liberal  Association  had  actually  the  indecency  to  issue 
a  manifesto  during  the  contest,  wherein,  after  premising 
that  they  had  carefully  considered  the  claims  of  the 
various  candidates,  they  went  on  to  say,  "  Captain 
Maxse,  by  his  advocacy  of  the  opening  of  museums  on 
Sundaj'  and  his  sympathies  in  favor  of  '  home  rule,' 
precluded  a  consideration  of  his  name."  This  being 
the  enlightened  verdict  of  Little  Bethel,  the  defeat  of 
the  Radical  candidate  is  not,  perhaps,  much  to  be  won- 
dered at,  especially  when  it  is  added  that  only  seventeen 
thousand  electors  took  the  trouble  to  go  to  poll  for  five 
candidates  out  of  a  constituency  of  thirty-two  thousand. 
Some  of  these  "  fixes  "  the  gallant  admiral  could  never 
be  put  in  again  ;  the  advocates  of  the  Permissive  Bill, 
for  example,  having  themselves  abandoned  their  meas- 
ure, and  in  its  stead  substituted  "local  option,"  a 
change  of  front  which  will  enable  Admiral  Maxse  and 
many  other  genuine  Radicals  in  future  to  render  them 
willing  aid.  By  way  of  equivalent  it  will  be  their 
duty  to  help  to  keep  off  the  land-sharks  that  prey  ou 


FREDERICK  AUGUSTUS  MAXSE.  271 

candidates  of  such  exceptional  honesty  of  purpose  as 
the  admmxl.  His  high  courage,  resolute  purpose,  and 
lofty  enthusiasm  would  be  a  verj'  clear  addition  of 
strength  to  the  flaccid  Radicalism  of  St.  Stephen's. 
His  failings  outside  Parliament  would  very  closely  re- 
semble virtues  inside. 

Admiral  Maxse's  name  is  closely  identified  with 
several  questions  of  vital  interest  to  the  nation,  more 
particularly  with  electoral  reform,  land-tenure  reform, 
religious  equality,  national  education,  the  enfranchise- 
ment of  the  agricultural  laborers,  and  woman  suffrage. 
He  has  probed  the  inequalities  of  our  representative 
system  to  the  core  ;  and  if  there  be  any  one  who  still 
believes  in  the  delusion  that  this  is  a  self-governed 
land,  and  has  any  desire  to  know  the  naked  truth, 
I  cannot  do  better  than  recommend  him  to  peruse 
Maxse's  pamphlet,  "  Whether  the  Minority  of  Electors 
should  be  represented  by  a  INIajority  in  the  House  of 
Commons."  Thirt}'  thousand  electors,  he  shows,  in 
small  constituencies,  elect  forty-four  members  of  Par- 
liament, while  five  hundred  and  forty-six  thousand  in 
large  boroughs  return  onlj-  thirty-five.  Thirty  thousand 
electors  thus  outvote  five  hundred  and  forty-six  thou- 
sand. At  the  last  general  election  eighteen  thousand 
electors  of  Manchester,  who  recorded  their  votes  in 
favor  of  a  candidate,  failed  to  return  him  ;  while  eigh- 
teen thousand  electors,  living  in  petty  boroughs  or 
rural  constituencies,  seated  no  fewer  than  thirty  hon- 
orable members  !  Fourteen  thousand  electors  in  Buck- 
inghamshire return  eight  members ;  fifty  thousand  in 
Lambeth  have  but  two  allotted  to  them. 

Commenting  on  such  stupendous  anomalies,  the 
admiral  indignantly  observes,  "  The  splendid  outcome 


272  Eminent  libebals  out  of  parliament. 

of  our  paxliamentary  system  is  that  a  minority  of 
electors  appoint  a  majority  of  members  of  Parliament, 
and  the  majority  of  electors  appoint  their  minority  to 
be  steadily  outvoted  and  beaten ;  and  all  the  while 
statesmen  and  journalists  vie  with  one  another  in 
national  brag,  and  tell  the  deluded  people  that  they 
are  blessed  above  all  other  peoples  in  their  institutions 
and  in  their  laws.  And  the  story  is  circulated  so 
persistently  that  at  last,  as  people  are  ultimately  con- 
vinced by  a  perpetual  advertisement,  they  think  that  it 
is  even  so." 

During  the  autumn  of  1874,  chiefly  through  the 
exertions  of  the  admiral,  was  foi-med  the  Electoral 
Reform  Association.  It  had  for  its  chief  object  the 
equalization  of  constituencies,  and  started  with  the 
promise  of  a  most  useful  career.  It  made  shipwreck, 
however,  unfortunately,  over  the  question  of  woman 
suffrage,  against  which  Admiral  Maxse  set  his  face 
with,  I  think,  most  injudicious  vigor.  It  is  a  problem 
which  may  be  safely  left  for  such  goody-goody  senti- 
mental people  to  solve,  in  their  own  fashion,  as  we  see 
voting  for  incompetent  women  in  preference  to  compe- 
tent men  in  school-board  elections.  I  have  read  with 
some  curiosity  the  admiral's  "  Woman  Suffrage,  the 
Counterfeit  and  the  True  :  Reasons  for  opposing  Both." 
and  can  only  feel  astonishment  that  he  should  have 
been  at  so  much  pains  to  argue  so  stoutly  either  on  the 
one  side  or  the  other.  Female  suffrage  would  have 
done  very  well  if  only  the  admiral  had  had  the  good 
sense  to  let  it  alone.  It  is  a  topic  which  females  and 
feminine  men  should  be  permitted  wholl}'  to  monopolize. 
It  will  please  them,  and  do  no  one  much  injury. 

As  a  member  of  the  executive  council  of  the  Laud- 


FREDERICK   AUGUSTUS   MAXSE.  273 

Tenure  Reform  Association,  Maxse  did  yeoman's  ser- 
vice. He  lectured  on  the  subject  in  various  towns,  and 
always  with  effect.  At  the  great  public  meeting  held 
in  Exeter  Hall  in  March,  1873,  presided  over  by  the 
late  John  Stuart  Mill,  Admiral  Maxse  moved  the  first 
resolution,  and  anticipated  in  his  speech  much  that  is 
now  being  forced  on  public  attention  by  the  agricultural 
distress  which  has  set  in  with  such  severity.  The  as- 
sociation was  perhaps  before  its  time  somewhat ;  but  its 
attitude  was  prophetic.  Maxse's  best  known  pamphlet, 
which  has  had  a  deservedly  large  circulation,  is  entitled 
"The  Causes  of  Social  Revolt,"  being  the  substance 
of  a  lecture  delivered  in  London,  Portsmouth,  Bradford, 
Nottingham,  and  other  towns.  It  will  repay  careful 
perusal. 

It  is  not  often  that  Admiral  Maxse  has  concerned 
himself  about  foreign  affairs;  but  his  letters  to  "The 
Morning  Post"  on  "the  German  j'oke  "  in  Alsace- 
Lorraine  were  most  valuable  contributions  towards  the 
proper  understanding  of  a  nefarious  ' '  imperial ' '  pro- 
ceeding, which,  it  is  safe  to  prophesy,  will  yet  cause 
much  blood  and  many  tears  to  be  shed.  The  bravest 
of  the  brave  and  a  Crimean  hero,  he  has  been  through- 
out our  "spirited  foreign  policy"  a  steady  anti-Jingo 
and  a  foe  to  militarismr  Indeed,  wherever  the  admiral 
has  erred,  it  has  been  on  the  side  of  a  frankness  rare  in 
English  public  life.  With  his  aristocratic  and  profes- 
sional connections  he  might  j'cars  ago  have  entered 
Parliament  either  as  a  nominee  of  the  Whigs  or  the 
Tories.  Instead  of  that,  "he  humbly  joined  him  to 
the  weaker  side  "  with  the  usual  result.  His  choice  of 
sides  is  an  eloquent  and  spontaneous  testimonj'^  to  the 
grievances  endured  by  the  English  people  at  the  hands 


274    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OTJT   OF  PARLIAMENT. 

of  an  oppressive  oligarchy.  Such  men  as  Frederick 
Augustus  IVIaxse  are  an  honor  to  any  class,  but  belong 
to  none.  Their  capacity  for  self-sacrifice  is  theu'  true 
patent  of  nobility,  and  that  no  sovereign  can  either  con- 
fer or  take  away. 


X. 

THE  HON.   AUBERON  HERBERT. 

"  They  are  slaves  who  dare  not  be 
In  the  right  with  two  or  three." 

"I  I  /  HEN  a  patrician  like  the  Hon.  Auberon  Edward 
W  WUliam  Molyneux  Herbert  comes  to  figure  as 
a  strenuous  people's  tribune,  it  is  not  unnatural  that 
his  motives  should  be  subjected  to  searching  analysis. 
Of  thorns  men  do  not  ordinarily  gather  figs,  nor  of  aris- 
tocratic bramble-bushes  gather  they  democratic  grapes. 
Nevertheless,  when  it  does  happen  that  grapes  are  pro- 
duced in  such  circumstances,  they  are  sometimes  of  the 
choicest  quality.  They  are  like  the  strawberry  that  has 
ripened  under  the  nettle.  In  the  society  of  a  man  like 
Herbert  you  feel  that  noblesse  oblige  is  not  quite  an 
empty  phrase.  There  is  a  certain  chivalrj^  in  his  Radi- 
calism, a  knight-errantry  if  jou  wUl,  —  a  combination 
of  courage  and  courtesy,  gentleness,  and  independence, 
which  it  would  be  hard  indeed  to  match  in  these  unro- 
mantic  days. 

"  For  manners  are  not  idle,  but  the  fruit 
Of  loyal  nature  and  of  noble  mind." 

By  one  or  two  critics  I  have  been  accused  of  fanatical 
abhorrence  of  aristocracy ;  but  it  is  not  so.  On  the 
contrary,  I  should  say  of  such  men  as  Herbert,  "  I 

275 


276    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OP  PARLIAMENT. 

have  not  found  so  great  faith,  no  not  in  Israel."  I 
could  name  several  members  of  his  order  who,  for  pur- 
ity of  motive,  sense  of  justice,  and  genuine  love  of 
their  fellow-men,  have  no  superiors,  or  perhaps  equals, 
in  the  ranks  of  those  whose  political  principles  may  be 
said  by  comparison  to  bear  interest.  The  aristocracy 
of  England  has  never  been  absolutely  without  some 
redeeming  representatives.  If  it  had  been  wholly  nox- 
ious it  could  not  have  survived  so  long.  But  it  was 
founded  in  conquest  and  rapine ;  and  it  has  all  along 
clung  to  birth,  and  not  merit,  as  the  chief  justification 
of  its  existence.  The  House  of  Lords  is  the  most 
extraordinary  anachronism  in  the  political  world.  The 
idea  of  a  hereditary  legislator  is  even  more  absurd  than 
that  of  a  hereditary'  butcher  or  baker ;  and,  if  English- 
men had  had  any  sense  of  the  ludicrous,  the  peerage 
would  have  been  laughed,  if  not  kicked,  out  of  exist- 
ence long  ago.  Notwithstanding  some  appearances  to 
the  contrary,  the  baronage  of  England,  Mr.  Herbert 
maintains,  and  I  agree  with  him,  is  now  as  effete  as  the 
Sublime  Porte.  There  is  but  one  thing  they  can  now 
do  with  advantage,  —  efface  themselves  as  speedily  as 
possible,  and  fall  into  line  in  the  great  army  of  democ- 
rac}"^,  which,  often  retarded  in  its  advance,  never  really 
turns  back;  which,  "like  death,  never  gives  up  a 
victim. ' ' 

When  an  aristocrat  by  birth  becomes  a  democrat  by 
reflection,  when  a  royalist  by  association  becomes  a  re- 
publican by  sympathy,  the  process  of  conversion  can 
never  be  without  interest.  Those  of  us  who,  like  my- 
self, were  at  no  time  any  thing  if  not  Radical,  are  apt 
to  set  but  too  little  store  by  principles  which  one  in  Mr. 
Herbert's  position  prizes  like  so  much  treasure-trove. 


THE  HON".  AUBEBON  HERBERT.      277 

Converse  with  Mr.  Herbert  on  such  matters,  and  you 
are  made  to  feel  as  if  you  had  been  entertaining  angels 
unawares.  The  ethical  superiority  of  the  Radical  creed 
which  3'ou  may  have  assumed,  he  will  demonstrate  to 
you  with  a  freshness  of  logic  and  a  fervor  of  conviction 
that  I  have  never  heard  sin-passed ;  not  that  I  agree 
with  all  or  nearly  all  of  the  practical  conclusions  at 
which  he  has  arrived.  Of  some  of  these  I  shall  have 
a  few  words  to  say  bj^  and  by.  It  is  the  frank,  gener- 
ous spirit,  void  of  the  faintest  suspicion  of  arriere  pen- 
see,  in  which  he  approaches  every  political  problem, 
that  is  the  great  matter. 

Auberon  Herbert  was  born  in  London  in  1838,  his 
father  being  Henry,  third  Earl  of  Carnarvon,  and  his 
mother  Henrietta  Anna  Howard,  niece  of  the  twelfth 
Duke  of  Norfolk.  The  father  of  the  first  Earl  of  Car- 
narv^on,  the  Hon.  Major-Gen.  William  Herbert,  was  a 
son  of  the  eighth  Earl  of  Pembroke.  Henry,  the  first 
earl,  was  raised  to  the  baronage  as  Lord  Porchester  of 
High  Clere,  Southampton,  in  1780,  and  in  1793  he  was 
made  Earl  of  Carnarvon.  He  was  a  gentleman  of 
intrepid  bearing,  and  is  said  to  have  earned  his  claim 
to  a  peerage  by  drawing  his  sword  and  threatening  to 
run  Lord  George  Gordon,  of  riotous  memory,  through 
the  body  unless  he  undertook  on  the  spot  to  withdraw 
the  mob  from  the  precincts  of  St.  Stephen's.  The 
second  earl  affected  Whiggery ;  the  third,  the  author 
of  "  Poi-tugal  and  Galicia,"  —  an  authoritative  book 
of  travelof  no  inconsiderable  literary  merit,  —  was  a 
Tory ;  while  the  fourth,  the  late  colonial  secretary  (Mr. 
Herbert's  brother) ,  whose  resignation  was  the  first  clear 
intimation  to  the  country  that  Beaconsfield  and  the 
Jingoes  in  the  cabinet  meant  serious  mischief,  it  is 


278    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT   OF   PARLIAJIENT. 

hoped  will  eventually  sever  his  connection  entiiely  with 
the  unconstitutional  party,  and  join  the  Liberal  party, 
with  which  he  is  so  much  more  in  sympathy. 

Mr.  Herbert  is  married  to  Lady  Florence  Amabel,  a 
daughter  of  the  sixth  Earl  of  Cowper.  She  is  a  woman 
as  remarkable  for  simplicity  of  manners  as  for  the  vigor 
of  her  intellect  and  the  kindness  of  her  heart.  If  Mr. 
Herbert  is  speculative,  she  is  the  incarnation  of  common 
sense.  Tennyson's  daughter  of  a  hundred  earls  was 
not  one  to  be  desired.  It  is  different  with  Lady  Flor- 
ence. She  has  fewer  airs  than  the  opulent  green-grocer's 
wife  round  the  comer,  who  might  learn  much  from  her 
in  domesticity.  With  her,  as  with  her  husband,  no- 
blesse oblige. 

Mr.  Herbert's  early  education  was  superintended  by 
tutors,  to  the  personal  rather  than  to  the  scholastic 
influence  of  some  of  whom  he  was  much  indebted.  In 
1857  he  proceeded  to  Oxford,  where  he  became  a  stu- 
dent of  St.  John's  College,  but  studied  steeple-chasing 
and  kindred  pursuits  more  than  the  ancient  classics  or 
any  other  kind  of  Uterature.  The  spirit  of  adventure 
was  strong  within  him,  and  after  two  years  of  desultory 
reading  he  determined  to  enter  the  army  so  as  to  see 
service  abroad.  Accordingly,  in  1859,  he  joined  the 
Seventh  Hussars  at  Canterbury,  and  subsequently 
served  iu  India  for  a  period  of  six  months,  attaining 
the  rank  of  lieutenant.  Here,  perversely  enough,  he 
was  as  studious  as  at  Oxford  he  had  been  idle.  He 
edited  a  little  magazine  called  "The  Crusader,"  and 
began  to  qualify  himself  for  staif  duties.  With  this 
object  in  view,  he  returned  to  Oxford  to  complete  his 
university  curriculum,  and  graduated  B.C.L.  in  18G2. 
On  taking  his  degree,  not  caring  to  resume  his  military 


THE  HON.  AUBEEON  HEEBERT.      279 

career,  he  devoted  himself  to  university  tuition,  and 
subsequently  obtained  a  "  Founders'  Kin  "  fellowship. 

In  18G4  the  man  of  "  blood  and  iron  "  had  matured 
his  first  great  crime  by  procuring  the  invasion  of 
Schleswig-Holstein  by  an  irresistible  Austro-Prussian 
army.  Mr.  Herbert,  deeply  sympathizing  with  the 
gallant  Danes,  abandoned  his  academical  pursuits,  and 
hastened  to  the  Dybbol  lines  in  order  to  encourage  the 
defenders  by  succoring  their  wounded.  He  rendered 
valuable  aid,  was  oftener  than  once  under  fire,  and 
became  a  great  favorite  both  with  officers  and  men. 
The  government  subsequently  signalized  its  gratitude 
by  conferring  on  him,  for  his  labor  of  love,  the  order  of 
the  Danneborg.  The  distinction  was  otherwise  well 
merited ;  for  Mr.  Herbert  pleaded  the  Danish  cause 
with  the  English  people  in  a  series  of  ' '  Letters  from 
Sonderborg"  in  a  way  that  would  have  stirred  their 
hearts  to  active  intervention  if  any  thing  could  have 
aroused  them  from  their  apathy.  When  England  is 
prepared  to  fight  innumerable  campaigns,  it  is,  alas ! 
not  done  on  behalf  of  Danes,  but  of  Turks,  —  not  for 
freedom,  but  for  despotism. 

The  Sonderborg  letters  are  replete  with  manly  feeMng 
and  shrewd  military  observation.  They  have  been  re- 
pubUshed  in  a  little  volume  entitled  ' '  The  Danes  in 
Camp,"  which  every  student  of  Bismarckian  rascality 
ought  to  peruse.  I  make  but  two  brief  extracts,  illus- 
trative of  its  tone :  "As  you  will  easily  conceive,  the 
conduct  of  England  has  placed  neither  our  nation  nor 
our  policy  in  a  favorable  Ught.  The  Danes  are  sorely 
hurt  at  our  desertion  of  their  fortunes.  They  feel  it  Uie 
more  acutely  because  between  them  and  England  there 
has  existed  a  silent  brotherhood.     English  is  the  Ian- 


280    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT  OF   PARLIAMENT. 

guage  which  is  taught  in  their  schools  and  colleges,  and 
which  forms  a  regular  part  of  their  education.  Their 
customs,  theu'  feelings,  their  ways  of  thought,  their 
character,  and  sometimes  their  very  look,  are  English. 
To  English  literature  they  have  turned  in  the  attempt 
to  oppose  it  to  that  of  Germany.  English  is  the  lan- 
guage which  they  seem  to  have  chosen  even  in  prefer- 
ence to  French  or  German,  which  would  have  afforded 
a  better  link  of  communication  between  themselves  and 
the  nations  of  that  great  continent  on  whose  outer  edge 
their  fortunes  are  cast,  and  to  which  they  cling  desper- 
ately, with  nothing  but  the  bravery  and  the  stern  virtues 
of  the  old  Norse  race  to  maintain  them  on  their  narrow 
foothold." 

"  Daik  as  are  the  clouds,  and  cruel  as  is  the  game 
which  is  being  played  out,  I  am  determined  to  remain 
constant  to  my  belief  that  I  have  both  visited  Arcadia 
and  seen  a  '  patriot  army. '  Do  jou  blame  me  in  this 
nineteenth  centur}'^  for  cherishing  two  such  illusions,  if 
illusions  they  are?  " 

While  I  am  about  it,  I  may  as  well  finish  the  record 
of  Mr.  Herbert's  warlike  experiences.  No  sooner  had 
he  left  the  Dybbol  lines  than  he  sought  those  before 
Richmond,  where  the  silent,  inflexible  Grant  had  at  last 
got  secession  firmly  by  the  throat.  The  taciturn  gen- 
eral gave  him  a  kindly  reception,  but  was  not  to  be 
"  drawn."  Not  a  man  on  the  staff  could  move  him 
to  the  faintest  demonstrativeness.  At  last  a  dispute 
arose  as  to  the  distance  between  two  places.  One  offi- 
cer said  five  miles,  another  four,  another  six.  "  Three 
and  a  half,"  interjected  Grant  with  a  tone  of  decision. 
He  alone  was  right.  The  general  had  been  drawn,  and 
everybody  was  satisfied.     President  Lincoln,  to  whom 


THE  HON.  AUBERON  HERBERT.      281 

Mr.  Herbert  was  introduced  at  Washington,  impressed 
him  very  differently.  Sagacity  and  honest}^  were  his 
obvious  characteristics.  His  implicit  trust  in  Grant 
made  Grant  be  trusted.  The  general  had  many  ene- 
mies, some  of  whom  accused  him  of  intemperance. 
"  Does  Grant  get  drunk?  "  asked  the  President  of  one 
of  these  maligners.  "  They  say  so."  —  "  Are  you  quite 
sure  he  gets  drunk?"  —  "Quite."  The  President 
paused,  and  then  gravely  ejaculated,  "  I  wonder  where 
he  buys  his  whiskey."  —  "And  why  do  you  want  to 
know?"  was  the  astonished  rejoinder.  "Because,  if 
I  did,"  replied  Lincoln,  "  I'd  send  a  barrel  or  two  of  it 
round  to  some  other  generals  I  know  of. ' ' 

When  Mr.  Herbert  went  to  America  he  was  still  a 
Conservative.  What  he  saw  and  heard,  however,  of 
the  great  republic  was  not  without  its  influence  on  his 
future  conduct.  "The  easy,  powerful  current  of  life, 
the  mixture  of  classes,  the  respect  shown  to  all,  made  a 
deep  impression  on  me.  Eeady  to  see  all  the  faults  of 
democratic  government,  I  saw  them,  and  yet  felt  the 
power  and  depth  of  tlie  tide  as  if  I  had  passed  from 
some  narrow  lake  out  on  the  sea." 

In  the  Franco-German  war  Mr.  Herbert  was  once 
more  a  ministering  angel  to  the  wounded.  "  When  in 
the  Luxembourg  train,  I  heard  the  sound  of  filing, 
jumped  out,  took  my  place  in  a  coach  going  to  a  nearer 
point,  saw  the  battle  of  Sedan  going  on  from  a  rising 
ground,  collected  some  lint,  and,  with  a  large  pitcher  of 
water,  started  for  the  field.  It  was  a  long  distance,  and 
I  found  myself  for  the  greater  part  of  my  road  abso- 
lutely alone.  The  villages  through  which  I  passed 
were  almost  entirely  deserted.  In  the  afternoon  the 
firing  ceased.     It  was  nightfall  before  I  reached  the 


282    EMINENT   LIBERALS   OUT   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

field.  Some  German  officers  asked  for  a  driuk  of  my 
water,  but  considerately  accepted  my  excuse  that  it 
was  for  the  wounded.  ...  In  the  morning  I  found  a 
country  house  full  of  wounded  French  who  had  not  yet 
been  taken  to  hospital.  I  spent  the  whole  morning  iu 
applying  the  few  simple  lessons  I  had  received  in  wash- 
ing wounds  and  bandaging,  and  I  think  the  belief  that 
they  had  a  doctor  amongst  them,  which  I  took  care  not 
to  disturb,  did  more  good  to  them  than  my  bandages. 
It  was  a  pretty  little  country  house  ;  and,  as  I  tore  up 
sheets  and  curtains  for  what  I  wanted,  I  could  not  help 
thinking  of  the  return  of  the  luckless  owners,  who, 
however,  perhaps  came  back  with  an  exceedingly  grate- 
ful feeling  that  any  house  at  all  remained  to  them." 
This  simple  narrative  admirably  illustrates  the  leading 
features  of  the  writer's  character, — his  self-reliance  and 
his  humanity. 

To  come  now  to  Mr.  Herbert's  political  acts  and 
principles,  which  should  have  been  reached  sooner. 
He  started  life,  to  be  sure,  as  a  Tory ;  but  I  cannot 
discover  that  he  had  ever  the  root  of  the  matter  really 
in  him.  He  called  himself  a  Conservative  long  after 
he  had  become  more  liberal  than  most  Liberals.  At 
Oxford,  however,  he  must  have  had  the  reputation 
of  being  a  sound  Consei-vative  ;  for  he  was  elected  pres- 
ident of  the  Union  Debating  Society  over  a  Liberal 
opponent,  and  in  1865  he  stood  unsuccessful^  for 
Newport,  Isle  of  Wight,  in  the  "  Liberal-Conserva- 
tive"  interest.  In  1866  a  safe  Conservative  seat  was 
offered  to  him ;  but  he  had  resolved  to  thiow  overboard 
the  Irish  Church,  and  with  the  Irish  Chm-ch  necessarily 
went  the  safe  seat.  More  decided  steps  followed.  He 
went  down  to  Newport,  and  frankly  told  his  old  friends 


THE  HON.  AUBERON  HERBERT.      283 

that  he  could  no  longer  conscientiously  act  with  them  ; 
and,  what  testified  still  more  strongly  to  the  sincerit}' 
of  his  motives,  he  resigned  his  private  secretaryship 
under  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  and  engaged  in  the  less 
lucrative  occupation  of  furthering  various  working-class 
movements  in  which  INIr.  Hodgson  Pratt  took  an  inter- 
est. The  conversion  was  complete,  but  not  sudden. 
It  had  been  produced  by  several  considerations,  the 
cumulative  effects  of  which  were  simply  irresistible. 
On  his  way  to  serve  in  India  he  had  stopped  long 
enough  in  Venice  to  take  sides  against  the  Austrian 
tyrant ;  and  on  his  return  to  Oxford  the  writings  of 
Mill,  more  particularly  his  famous  treatise  on  "  Lib- 
erty," Buckle's  "History  of  Civilization,"  and  the  per- 
sonal influence  of  Goldwin  Smith,  had  the  effect,  so  to 
speak,  of  regenerating  his  entire  political  nature. 
When  he  made  the  final  plunge  into  Radicalism  he  felt 
like  an  escaped  prisoner  on  the  first  day  of  freedom. 

In  18G8  he  made  a  gallant  but  unsuccessful  effort  to 
wrest  a  seat  from  the  Tories  in  Berkshire.  It  was  not 
long,  however,  before  a  much  more  suitable  constitu- 
ency sought  and  secured  his  sei-vices.  In  1870  he  was 
returned  for  Nottingham  by  a  large  Radical  majoritj', 
and  remained  in  Parliament  till  the  dissolution  of  1874, 
when,  to  the  disappointment  of  many  enthusiastic 
friends  and  supporters,  he  retired  from  the  representa- 
tion of  the  borough.  His  health  had  suffered,  and  his 
notions  of  the  true  functions  of  a  legislatm'e  had  in  the 
interval  undergone  a  change  of  which  he  could  not  at 
the  time  foresee  the  consequences.  He  required  leisure 
to  think  them  out.     But  of  this  more  anon. 

'  In  Parliament  Mr.  Herbert  was  not,  generally  speak- 
ing, a.  grata  persona.     He  was  too  conscientious  to  be 


284    EMINENT  LIBERALS  OUT  OP  PARLIAMENT. 

a  good  party  man,  too  Radical  all  round  both  for  Con- 
servatives and  Liberals.  The  cut  and  color  of  his 
coats,  moreover,  scandalized  honorable  members. 
They  were  light  green  when  they  ought  to  have  been 
of  a  more  sombre  hue,  and  it  was  oftener  than  once 
debated  by  certain  of  the  weaker  brethren  whether  the 
speaker's  attention  might  not  with  advantage  be  drawn 
to  the  irreverent  attire  of  the  member  for  Nottingham. 
This,  however,  was  not  Herbert's  greatest  enormity. 
In  seconding  Sir  Charles  Dilke's  famous  motion  re- 
specting the  civil  list,  and  commenting  on  the  justly 
suspected  frauds  connected  therewith,  Mr.  Herbert, 
while  alluding  to  the  actual  occupant  of  the  throne  with 
all  the  superstitious  reverence  which  a  degraded  public 
opinion  could  possibly  exact,  had  yet  the  manhood  to 
affirm  his  conviction  that  a  republic  is  preferable  to .  a 
monarchy  in  a  community  such  as  ours.  Thereupon 
one  honorable  member  '"  spied  strangers  in  the  gallery," 
and  had  the  press  ejected,  while  a  noble  lord  manifest- 
ed his  loyalty  to  the  crown  by  "  cock-crowing  "  !  So 
great  was  the  uproar,  raised  chiefly  by  the  ' '  party  of 
order,"  that  for  the  space  of  an  hour  the  member  for 
Nottingham  could  scarcely  ejaculate  more  than  a  word 
or  two  at  a  time.  The  speaker  pronounced  the  scene 
the  most  ' '  painful ' '  he  had  ever  witnessed ;  j'ct  I 
have  never  he^frd  anj'  one  allege  that  Herbert  uttered 
one  untrue  or  offensive  syllable  in  his  speech.  The 
fault  was  entirely  with  the  fault-finders.  It  was  the 
old  story, — Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians :  the 
silversmiths  were  all  in  arms.     Howbeit,  — 


"They  have  rights  who  dare  maintain  them: 
We  are  traitors  to  our  sires, 


THE  HON.  AUBERON  HEBBERT.   *   285 

Smothering  in  tlieir  lioly  aslies 

Freedom's  new-lit  altar  fires. 
Sliall  we  make  tlieir  creed  our  jailer  ? 

Shall  we,  in  our  haste  to  slay, 
From  the  tombs  of  the  old  prophets 

Steal  the  funeral  lamps  away 
To  light  up  the  martyr  fagots 

Round  the  prophets  of  the  day  ?  " 

The  religious  provisions  of  the  Scotch  Education  Bill 
of  1872  Mr.  Herbert  criticised  with  commendable  can- 
dor, and  a  rare  appreciation  of  the  evil  effects  of  eccle- 
siastical uniformity  on  the  character  of  the  Scottish 
people.  The  justice  of  his  strictures,  to  which  no  mem- 
ber from  Scotland  dared  give  expression,  was  gratefully 
acknowledged  by  enlightened  Scottish  opinion. 

In  1873,  in  criticising  the  army  estimates,  Mr.  Her- 
bert took  occasion  to  impugn  the  organization  and 
question  the  efficiency  of  our  standing  army.  He 
proved  bj^  irrefutable  statistics  that  the  British  ann}'  is 
consumed  by  loathsome  disease,  and  thinned  b}^  inces- 
sant desertion  to  an  extent  that  is  almost  incredible. 
'•  Officers  and  gentlemen,"  needless  to  say,  were  horri- 
fied, more  especially  when  they  were  told  by  a  member, 
who  might  be  regarded  as  one  of  themselves,  that  a 
territorial  citizen  force,  a  simple  extension  of  the  vol- 
unteer system,  would  be  more  effective  in  the  field  than 
a  standing  army,  and  incomparably  less  costly  to  the 
British  taxpayer. 

Mr.  Herbert's  kindly  nature  was  never  seen  to  great- 
er advantage  than  in  the  untiring  efforts  he  made  "to 
provide  for  the  protection  of  wUd  birds  during  the 
breeding-season."  He  set  forth  the  virtues  of  thrushes, 
blackbirds,  jays,  and  sparrows  with  something  like  pa- 


286    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OF  PARLIAMENT. 

temal  pride,  and  begged  the  House,  with  a  genuine 
ardor  which  aroused  its  sympathy,  "to  have  compas- 
sion on  creatures  which  were  so  entirely  within  their 
power."     So  true  it  is  that  — 

"He  prayeth  well  who  loveth  well 
Both  man  and  bird  and  beast." 

Since  Herbert  has  been  out  of  Parliament  he  has 
devoted  himself  to  agi-icultural  pm-suits  ;  but  no  serious 
call  to  public  duty  has  found  him  wanting.  The  Bulga- 
rian atrocities  filled  his  mind  with  horror.  He  came  to 
London,  and  ''  lobbied  "  for  weeks  in  order  to  put  cour- 
age into  the  breasts  of  timid  Liberal  members.  The 
St.  James's  Hall  conferences  owed  him  much  for  the 
success  which  attended  them ;  and  he  gave  a  striking 
proof  of  his  personal  intrepidity  by  presiding  at  the 
second  anti-Jingo  meeting  in  Hyde  Park,  where  the 
herculean  strength  of  Mr.  Bradlaugh  with  difficulty 
availed  to  save  himself  from  a  violent  end. 

As  a  politician  Mr.  Herbert  has  latterly  adopted 
the  ultra-individualist  theories  of  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer, 
and  started  a  "Personal  Rights  and  Self-Help  Asso- 
ciation ' '  as  the  outward  manifestation  of  his  new  faith. 
The  Personal  Rights  Association  abhors  socialism  in 
every  form.  What  is  socialism?  It  exists  whenever 
the  state  does  for  individuals  what  they  might  volun- 
tarily achieve  for  themselves.  They  are  the  best  laws 
which  repeal  laws.  The  church  as  by  law  established 
is  a  socialist  institution,  —  down  with  it.  National 
education  is  socialist,  —  down  with  it.  The  poor  law 
is  socialist,  —  repeal  it.  The  liquor  laws  are  socialist, 
—  away  with  them.  Factory  legislation  is  socialist,  — 
undo  it.      What  is  wanted  is  absolute  free  trade  in 


THE  HON.  AUBEKON  HERBERT.      287 

every  thing, — religion,  ignorance,  whiskey,  destitu- 
tion, and  over-work.  The  hotter  war,  the  sooner  peace. 
The  individual  must  save  himself.  By  throwing  away 
the  state  crutch  is  it  alone  possible  to  learn  to  wallc. 
The  true  sphere  of  government  is  merely  to  preserve 
the  internal  and  external  police  of  the  realm.  When 
more  is  attempted  it  is  an  illegitimate  and  baneful 
exercise  of  authority,  an  arrest  of  progress,  a  stunting 
of  the  national  growth.  Either  the  state  must  do 
every  thing  for  the  individual,  or  the  individual  must 
do  every  thing  for  himself.  Neck  or  nothing !  It  is 
the  ideal  social  democracy  of  Germany  against  the 
ideal  individualist  democracy  of  England.  Unfortu- 
nately the  problem  is  complicated,  and  will  remain 
insoluble  until  monarchy  and  aristocracy  have  disap- 
peared from  both  countries.  A  privileged  aristocracy 
at  the  top  of  the  social  pyramid  necessarily  implies 
protected  poverty  at  the  base.  Deal  with  the  cause 
before  you  meddle  with  the  effect.  When  some  simple 
form  of  republican  government,  based  on  universal 
suffrage,  such  as  Mr.  Herbert  desires,  has  been  at- 
tained, it  will  be  time  enough  seriously  to  concern 
ourselves  about  the  intrinsic  consequences  of  social- 
ism and  individualism.  With  a  complete  democracy, 
socialist  and  individualist  conundrums  will  solve  them- 
selves. Let  Mr.  Herbert  seek  first  the  republic,  and 
all  else  will  be  added  to  him. 


XI. 

EDWARD  AUGUSTUS  FREEM4N. 

"  The  Politics  are  base ; 
The  Letters  do  not  cheer; 
And  'tis  far  in  the  deeps  of  History 
Tlie  voice  that  speaketh  clear." 

AMONGr  eminent  English  Radicals,  Freeman  the 
historian  occupies  a  unique  place.  He  goes 
forward  by  going  backward.  He  is  a  Radical  because 
he  is  a  Conservative.  He  is  a  democrat  because  he  is 
a  student  of  antiquity.  Addressing  the  Liverpool  In- 
stitute in  November  last,  he  described  himself  as 
*'  belonging  to  that  old-fashioned  sect  that  dreads  noth- 
ing so  much  as  the  change  of  novelty."  It  is  his  boast 
to  be  one  of  the  trusty  few  who  ' '  cleave  to  the  old 
faith  that  there  is  something  in  the  wisdom  of  our  fore- 
fathers, and  that  the  right  thing  is  to  stand  fast  in  the 
old  paths."  The  Tories  are  dangerous  innovators. 
Our  political  progress  has  consisted  in  setting  aside 
"  the  leading  subtleties  which  grew  up  from  the  thir- 
teenth century  to  the  seventeenth,"  and  reverting  "  to 
the  plain  common  sense  of  the  eleventh  or  tenth,  and  of 
times  far  earlier."  The  most  primitive  institutions  of 
the  English  race  were  based  on  universal  suffrage.  The 
Swiss  Republic  is  the  oldest  polity  in  Europe,  and  the 
best.  In  all  history  there  is  hardly  a  more  picturesque 
288 


EDWARD   AUGUSTUS  FREEMAN.  289 

chapter  than  that  with  which  Freeman's  "  Growth  of 
the  English  Constitution"  opens:  "Year  by  year,  on 
certain  spots  among  the  dales  and  mountain-sides  of 
Switzerland,  the  traveller  who  is  daring  enough  to  wan- 
der out  of  beaten  tracks,  and  to  make  his  journey  at 
unusual  seasons,  may  look  on  a  sight  such  as  no  other 
corner  of  the  earth  can  any  longer  set  before  him.  He 
may  there  gaze  and  feel  what  none  can  feel  but  those 
who  have  sefen  with  their  own  eyes,  what  none  can  feel 
in  its  fulness  but  once  in  a  lifetime,  — the  thrill  of  look- 
ing for  the  first  time  face  to  face  on  freedom  in  its 
purest  and  most  ancient  form.  He  is  there  in  a  land 
where  the  oldest  institutions  of  our  race  —  institutions 
which  may  be  traced  up  to  the  earliest  times  of  which 
history  or  legend  gives  us  any  glunmering  —  still  live 
on  in  their  primeval  freshness.  He  is  in  a  land  where 
an  immemorial  freedom  —  a  freedom  only  less  eternal 
than  the  rocks  that  guard  it  —  puts  to  shame  the  boasted 
antiquit}^  of  kingl}-  dj'nasties,  which  by  its  side  seem 
but  as  innovations  of  yesterday.  There  year  by  year, 
on  some  bright  morning  of  the  springtide,  the  sover- 
eign people,  not  intrusting  its  rights  to  a  few  of  its  own 
numbers,  but  discharging  them  itself  in  the  majesty  of 
its  own  corjDorate  person,  meets  in  the  open  market- 
place or  in  the  green  meadow  at  the  mountain's  foot  to 
frame  the  laws  to  which  it  yields  obedience  as  its  own 
work,  to  choose  the  rulers  whom  it  can  afford  to  greet 
with  reverence  as  drawing  their  commission  from  itself. 
Such  a  sight  there  are  but  few  Englishmen  who  have 
seen.  To  be  among  those  few  I  reckon  among  the 
highest  privileges  of  my  life. 

' '  Let  me  ask  you  to  follow  me  in  spuit  to  the  very 
home  and  birthplace  of  freedom,  to  the  land  where  we 


290    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OF  PARLIAMENT. 

need  not  myth  and  fable  to  add  aught  to  the  fresh  and 
gladdening  feeling  with  which  we  for  the  first  time 
tread  the  soil  and  drink  in  the  air  of  the  immemorial 
democracj'  of  Uri.  It  is  one  of  the  opening  days  of 
May ;  it  is  the  morning  of  Sunday,  for  men  there  deem 
that  the  better  day  the  better  deed.  Thej-  deem  that 
the  Creator  cannot  be  more  truty  honored  than  in  using 
in  his  fear  and  in  his  presence  the  highest  of  the  gifts 
which  he  has  bestowed  on  man.  But  deem  not,  that, 
because  the  day  of  Christian  worship  is  chosen  for  the 
gi'eat  yearl}'^  assembly  of  a  Christian  commonwealth, 
the  more  direct  sacred  duties  of  the  day  are  forgotten. 
Before  we  in  our  luxurious  island  have  lifted  ourselves 
from  our  beds,  the  men  of  the  mountains  —  Catholic 
and  Protestant  alike  —  have  already  paid  the  morning 
worship  in  God's  temple.  They  have  heard  the  mass 
of  the  priest,  or  they  have  listened  to  the  sermon  of  the 
pastor,  before  some  of  us  have  awakened  to  the  fact  that 
the  mom  of  the  holy  day  has  come.  And  when  I  saw 
men  thronging  the  crowded  church,  or  kneeling,  for 
want  of  space  within,  on  the  bare  ground  beside  the 
open  door ;  and,  when  I  saw  them  marching  thence  to 
do  the  highest  duties  of  men  and  citizens,  I  could  hardl}' 
forbear  thinking  of  the  sa3'ing  of  Holy  Writ,  that '  where 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty.' 

"  From  the  market-place  of  Altdorf,  the  little  capital 
of  the  canton,  the  procession  makes  its  way  to  the 
place  of  meeting  at  Bozlingen.  First  marches  the  little 
army  of  the  canton,  an  aimy  whose  weapons  never  can 
be  used  save  to  di-ive  back  an  invader  from  their  land. 
Over  their  heads  floats  the  banner,  the  bull's  head  of 
Uri,  the  ensign  which  led  the  men  to  victor^^  on  the 
fields  of  Sempach  and  Morgai-ten ;  and  before  them  all, 


EDWARD  AUGUSTUS  FREEMAN.  291 

on  the  shoulders  of  men  clad  in  a  garb  of  ages  past, 
are  borne  the  famous  horns,  the  spoils  of  the  wild  bull 
of  ancient  daj's,  the  very  horns  whose  blast  struck  such 
dread  into  the  fearless  heart  of  Charles  of  Burgundy. 
Then,  with  then*  lictors  before  them,  come  the  magis- 
trates of  the  commonwealth  on  horseback,  the  chief 
magistrate,  the  landamman,  with  his  sword  by  his  side. 
The  people  follow  the  chiefs  whom  they  have  chosen  to 
the  place  of  meeting,  —  a  circle  in  a  green  meadow,  with 
a  pine  forest  rising  above  their  heads,  and  a  might}' 
spur  of  the  mountain  range  facing  them  on  the  other 
side  of  the  valley.  The  multitude  of  freemen  take 
their  seats  around  the  chief  ruler  of  the  commonwealth, 
whose  term  of  office  comes  that  day  to  an  end.  The 
assembly  opens.  A  short  space  is  first  given  to  prayer, 
silent  pra3'er,  offered  up  by  each  man  in  the  temple  of 
God's  own  rearing.  Then  comes  the  business  of  the 
day.  If  changes  in  the  law  are  demanded,  they  are 
then  laid  before  the  vote  of  the  assembty,  in  which 
each  citizen  of  full  age  has  an  equal  vote  and  an  equal 
right  of  speech.  The  yearly  magistrates  have  now 
discharged  all  their  duties  :  their  term  of  office  is  at  an 
end.  The  trust  which  has  been  placed  in  their  hands 
falls  back  into  the  hands  of  those  by  whom  it  was 
given,  —  into  the  hands  of  the  sovereign  people.  The 
chief  of  the  commonwealth,  now  such  no  longer,  leaves 
his  seat  of  office  and  takes  his  place  as  a  simple  citizen 
in  the  ranks  of  his  fellows.  It  rests  with  the  free  will 
of  the  assembly  to  call  him  back  to  his  chair  of  office, 
or  to  set  another  there  in  his  stead. 

"Men  who  have  neither  looked  into  the  histoiy  of 
the  past,  nor  yet  troubled  themselves  to  learn  what 
happens  j'ear  by  j'^ear  in  then-  own  age,  are  fond  of  de- 


292    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT   OF  PARLIAMENT. 

claiming  against  the  caprice  and  ingratitude  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  of  telling  us  that  under  a  democratic  govern- 
ment neither  men  nor  measures  can  remain  for  an  hour 
unchanged.  The  witness  alike  of  the  present  and  of 
the  past  is  an  answer  to  baseless  theories  like  these. 
The  spirit  which  made  democratic  Athens  j'car  by  year 
bestow  her  highest  offices  on  the  patrician  Pericles  and 
the  re-actionary  Phokion  still  lives  in  the  democracies 
of  Switzerland,  and  alike  in  the  Landesgemeinde  of 
Uri  and  in  the  Federal  Assembly  at  Berne.  The  min- 
isters of  kings,  whether  despotic  or  constitutional,  may 
vainl}"^  envy  the  same  tenure  of  office  which  falls  to 
those  who  are  chosen  to  rule  by  the  voice  of  the  peo- 
ple. Alike  in  the  whole  confederation  and  in  the  sin- 
gle canton,  re-election  is  the  rule  :  the  rejection  of  the 
outgoing  magistrate  is  the  rare  exception.  The  Land- 
amman  of  Uri,  whom  his  countrjmen  have  raised  to 
the  seat  of  honor,  and  who  has  done  nothing  to  lose 
their  confidence,  need  not  fear  that  when  he  has  gone 
to  the  place  of  meeting  in  the  pomp  of  office  his  place 
in  the  march  homeward  will  be  transferred  to  another 
against  his  will." 

In  the  foregoing  extract  the  reader  has  Freeman  at 
his  best,  —  Freeman  the  Liberal  politician  and  Freeman 
the  devout  Christian.  His  politics  and  his  religion, 
like  Gladstone's,  inspire  all  his  writings.  His  life  has 
been  one  strenuous  endeavor  to  vindicate  by  precept 
and  example  the  noblest  traditions  of  the  one  and  of 
the  other.  As  a  man  of  Teutonic  stock,  he  has  at  all 
times  taken  strong  ground  against  unhappy  Celts  ;  and, 
as  a  follower  of  Christ,  he  has  assuredly  never  shown 
undue  compassion  for  the  disciples  of  Mahomet.  Yet 
it  were  hard  to  tax  Mr.  Freeman  with  prejudice.     The 


EDWARD   AUGUSTUS   FREEMAN.  293 

strength  and  honesty  of  his  intellect  no  man  can  ques- 
tion. Of  historians  he  is  the  most  industrious  and  ac- 
curate, and  he  is  by  no  means  deficient  in  imagination. 
In  this  last  quality  he  is  of  course  immeasurably  in- 
ferior to  a  prose  poet  like  Carlyle  ;  but  there  is  compen- 
sation. He  has  never  sunk  a  Vengeur^  and  I  could 
scarcelj''  conceive  of  him  having  the  philological  credulity 
to  connect  "  king  "  with  "  cunning  man."  History  is 
but  past  politics,  just  as  politics  are  present  history. 
This  cardinal  truth  Mr.  Freeman,  as  a  narrator  of 
events,  fully  apprehends  ;  and  this  it  is  that  gives  such 
lucidity  and  value  to  all  his  writings.  He  has,  more- 
over, moral  courage  of  the  highest  order,  and  admira- 
ble tenacity  of  purpose.  To  his  own  mind  his  objects 
are  invariably  clear ;  and  he  takes  the  most  direct,  if 
sometimes  not  the  most  pleasant,  means  of  clarifying 
the  minds  of  others.  For  such  constitutionally  inaccu- 
rate persons  as  Beaconsfield  and  Froude  he  has,  like 
experience,  proved  himself  a  hard  taskmaster  ;  but  the 
public  has  reaped  the  benefit  of  his  occasionally  ' '  bru- 
tal frankness." 

Yet  with  all  these  varied  qualifications,  moral  and 
intellectual,  Mr.  Freeman  is  not  without  his  limita- 
tions. His  mind  is  a  peculiarly  English  mind,  strong 
in  facts  and  shrewd  at  inferences,  but  weak  and  timid 
in  the  application  of  first  principles.  Original  specula- 
tors like  Spencer  or  Bain  might  logically  overthrow  the 
very  foundations  of  his  political  and  religious  beliefs, 
and  he  would  never  know  or  care.  He  is  an  accom- 
plished specialist  in  letters,  and  he  is  content  so  to  be. 
Living  all  his  days  the  life  of  a  squire  of  his  county, 
his  habits  of  thought  are  as  realistic  as  those  of  the 
class  of  which  he  is  so  gi'eat  and  unwonted  an  oma- 


294    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT  OF  PARTIAMENT. 

ment.  All  the  difference  is  that  his  historical  recol- 
lection is  better  than  theirs.  Things  that  they  regard 
as  sacred  by  reason  of  their  antiquity,  he  knows  to  be 
of  comparative!}'  modern  origin.  In  a  note  to  "The 
Growth  of  the  English  Constitution,"  he  makes  the 
following  manly  declaration  with  regard  to  the  monar- 
chical superstition  which  is  so  sedulousl}'^  fostered  in  this 
country :  "  There  really  seems  no  reason  why  the  form 
of  the  executive  government  should  not  be  held  as 
lawful  a  subject  for  discussion  as  the  House  of  Lords, 
the  Established  Church,  the  standing  army,  or  any 
thing  else.  It  shows  simple  ignorance,  if  it  does  not 
show  something  worse,  when  the  word  '  republican '  is 
used  as  synonj  raous  with  cut-throat  or  pickpocket.  I 
do  not  find  that  in  republican  countries  this  kind  of 
language  is  applied  to  the  admirers  of  monarchy ;  but 
the  people  who  talk  in  this  way  are  just  those  who  have 
no  knowledge  of  republics,  either  in  past  history  or  in 
present  times.  They  may  very  likely  have  climbed  a 
Swiss  mountain ;  but  they  have  taken  care  not  to  ask 
what  was  the  constitution  of  the  country  at  its  foot.' ' 

Edward  Augustus  Freeman  was  born  at  Harborne, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Birmingham,  in  1823.  He 
unfortunately  lost  both  parents  before  he  was  one  year 
old;  his  father,  John  Freeman,  Esq.,  of  Pedmore 
Hall,  Worcestershire,  djing  at  the  comparatively  earl}' 
age  of  forty.  His  paternal  grandmother,  who  resided 
at  Northampton,  became  his  guaixlian,  and  with  her  he 
had  his  home  till  his  removal  to  Oxford  in  1841.  Be- 
fore proceeding  to  the  university,  he  had  attended  for 
several  years  a  school  at  Cheam,  Surrey ;  a  private 
tutor,  the  Kev.  Mr.  Gutch,  subsequently  preparing  him 
for  matriculation  at  Trinity  College.     There  his  great 


EDWARD   AUGUSTUS   FREEMAN.        .      295 

talent  and  industry  were  not  without  their  reward. 
He  was  elected  a  scholar,  and  in  1845  he  became 
a  fellow  of  his  college.  Twelve  years  later,  after 
the  publication  of  several  of  his  historical  works,  he 
was  made  examiner  in  law  and  modern  history,  and, 
in  1873,  examiner  in  the  school  of  modern  history. 
Both  universities  have  vied  with  each  other  in  recogniz- 
ing his  vast  attainments :  Oxford  conferring*  on  him 
the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L.,  and  Cambridge  that 
of  LL.D.  Like  many  other  Oxford  men  who  have 
subsequently  arrived  at  a  knowledge  of  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Kadicalism,  Mr.  Freeman  was  brought  up  in  the 
strictest  bonds  of  political  and  ecclesiastical  Tory- 
ism. His  grandmother  had  sown  seed  at  Northampton 
which  the  tractarians,  then  in  the  ascendant,  watered 
at  Oxford.  Among  his  college  friends  was  Patterson, 
now  Monsiguor,  and  other  incipient  Romanists  of  dis- 
tinction. About  this  period,  likewise,  he  wrote  verses, 
and  very  good  verses  too,  as  regard  form,  of  an  ultra- 
royalist  or  Jacobite  character ;  Carlos,  a  maternal 
ascendant,  who,  tradition  saj's,  was  the  last  man  to 
strilie  a  blow  for  the  king  at  Worcester,  being  a  favor- 
ite subject  of  his  muse. 

But  so  sound  an  intelligence  as  Freeman's  could  not 
long  draw  sustenance  from  such  unrealities.  In  1847 
he  married  an  estimable  lady,  the  daughter  of  his 
former  tutor,  Mr.  Gutch,  and  gradually  put  away  the 
more  childish  things  of  political  and  ecclesiastical  re- 
action. Slight,  and  it  might  be  said  almost  whimsical, 
considerations  at  first  weighed  with  him.  Always  an 
interested  and  critical  student  of  history,  church  his- 
tory at  first  more  particularly,  he  was  struck  with  the 
unsatisfactory  bearings  of  two   ecclesiastical  facts  or 


296    EMINENT  LIBERALS  OUT   OF   PARLIAMENT. 

fictions.  Edward  the  Confessor  had  a  wife,  and  the 
kingdom  sorely  wanted  an  heir  to  the  crown  ;  but  the 
saintly  character  of  the  monarch  could  only  be  sus- 
tained by  practical  celibacy.  Was  this  asceticism 
rational  sanctity  ?  Again,  the  salvation  of  some  mil- 
lions of  unfortunate  Swedes  was  made  to  turn  on  the 
suflJciency  of  the  consecration  of  a  particular  bishop  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  Was  this  reasonable  theologj'  ? 
Cleai'l}'  the  chaff  of  ritualism  must  be  separated  from 
the  older  and  more  solid  giain  of  Anglicanism. 

The  tractarian  movement  was  not,  however,  all  loss 
to  Mr.  Freeman.  It  made  him  a  profound  student  of 
architecture,  and  a  clever  sketcher  of  ecclesiastical 
buildings.  In  such  matters  he  has  often  been  con- 
sulted by  the  gi'eatest  authorities,  among  others  by 
Sir  Gilbert  Scott.  His  "History  of  Architecture " 
(1849),  "  An  Essay  on  Window  Tracery  "  (1850),  and 
"  The  Architecture  of  Llandaff  Cathedral "  (1851),  his 
earliest  publications,  are  still  works  of  acknowledged 
merit. 

While  I  am  dealing  with  church  matters,  I  may  as 
well  note  the  progress  which  this  enlightened  church- 
man has  made  in  respect  of  the  question  of  disestab- 
lishment and  disendowment.  He  heartily  supported 
the  abolition  of  the  Irish  establishment ;  and  in  1874  he 
published  a  curiously  tentative  volume,  in  which  he  dis- 
cussed the  position  of  the  English  Church,  amving  at 
the  somewhat  novel  conclusion  that  the  property  of  the 
national  church  is  not  national  property.  Its  revenues, 
he  argues,  are  in  precisely  the  same  position  as  those 
of  Nonconformist  communions.  The  sovereign  power, 
however,  being  absolute,  may  appropriate  whatever  it 
has  a  mind.     A  neater  little  juggle  with  Austin's  defini- 


EDWARD    AUGUSTUS  FREEMAN.  297 

tion  of  sovereignty  I  do  not  remember  to  have  seen. 
True,  the  state  maj'^  never  have  by  any  formal  act,  as 
Mr.  Freeman  alleges,  endowed  the  church  as  by  law 
established  ;  but  surely  Mr.  Freeman  will  not  deny  that 
there  was  a  time  when  the  church  and  the  people  were 
co-extensive,  and  in  theory  they  are  still  one  and  indi- 
visible. In  practice  the  so-caUed  state  church  is 
merel}'^  a  monopolizing  sect  which  has  fraudulently  ap- 
propriated the  shares  of  all  the  other  sects.  These 
latter,  when  they  are  strong  enough  to  bring  sovereign 
authority  to  bear,  will  eject  the  dispossessor,  and  com- 
pel him  to  disgorge  his  ill-gotten  gains.  He  would  be 
a  bold  churchman,  indeed,  who  should  propose  to  deal 
similarly  with  the  revenues  of  Nonconformist  commun- 
ions. More  recently,  however,  the  attitude  of  the 
state  church  towards  the  struggling  Christian  popula- 
tions of  Turkey  has  satisfied  Mr.  Freeman,  that,  ha\T.ng 
ceased  to  act  as  the  conscience  of  the  nation,  its  moral 
justification  is  at  an  end.  It  is  to  be  hoped  Mr.  Glad- 
stone and  other  zealous  churchmen  wUl  likewise  dis- 
cern how  faithfuUy  the  Nonconformists  of  England 
have  done  what  the  established  sect  has  so  conspicu- 
ously left  undone. 

In  the  autumn  of  1869  Mr.  Freeman  pricked  the 
national  conscience  in  a  memorable  manner  regarding 
the  "morality  of  field-sports."  He  held  up  the  bar- 
barities of  the  battue  to  the  shame  and  scorn  of  man- 
kind. The  withers  of  "quality"  were  mercilessly 
wrung,  from  those  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  downwards. 
There  were  numberless  attempted  defences,  but  not  one 
that  Mr.  Freeman  was  not  able  to  break  down  with  the 
greatest  ease.  The  contemptible  hypocrisy  of  persons 
like  his  Royal  Highness  who  act  as  patrons  of  societies 


298    EMINENT  LIBERALS   OUT  OP  PARLIAJIENT. 

for  the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  costermongers'  don- 
keys, while  themselves  delighting  in  the  cruel  and 
unmanly  massacre  of  tame  pigeons  and  semi-domesti- 
cated pheasants,  was  thoroughly  exposed  in  the  course 
of  the  controversy,  and  a  well-aimed  blow  struck  at  the 
heart  of  the  abomination  of  the  game-laws,  which  have 
so  long  disgraced  the  statute-book  of  the  country. 

"  Strange  that  of  all  the  living  chain 
That  binds  creation's  plan, 
There  is  but  one  delights  in  pain,  — 
The  savage  monarch  man  !" 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  that,  with  perhaps  the 
single  exception  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  Mr.  Freeman  is  the 
greatest  living  master  of  the  Eastern  question  in  all  its 
details.  He  was  four  years  of  age  when  the  battle  of 
Navarino  was  fought,  and  he  remembers  the  receipt  of 
the  intelligence.  He  may  be  said  to  have  been  inter- 
ested in  the  emancipation  of  the  Eastern  Christians 
ever  since.  At  the  time  of  the  Crimean  war  his  pen 
was  incessantly  employed  in  combating  the  national 
madness.  The  number  of  persons  in  this  country  who 
then  understood  the  real  issues  in  the  East  was  insig- 
nificant, and  Freeman  was  one  of  the  few.  He  may  be 
said  to  have  advocated  the  "  bag  and  baggage  "  policy 
from  the  beginning ;  and  he  never  lost  sight  of  his 
object.  When  the  city  fell  down  and  worshipped  the 
Sultan  on  the  occasion  of  his  visit  to  London,  Mr.  Free- 
man almost  alone  entered  a  spirited  protest  against 
the  base  idolatry,  and  described  the  Oriental  tjTant  in 
befitting  terms.  When  the  Herzegovinian  insurrection 
broke  out  he  was  one  of  the  first  who  strove  to  range 
his  countrymen  on  the  side  of  the  oppressed.     By 


EDWAED   AUGUSTUS   FREEMAN.  299 

innumerable  letters  to  the  newspapers,  and  speeches  in 
various  towns,  he  did  an  immense  deal  to  enlighten 
public  opinion  ;  and  he  succeeded  personally  in  raising 
no  less  a  sum  than  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  furtherance 
of  the  good  cause.  In  1877  he  visited  Greece,  and 
was  received  by  the  people  of  such  places  as  Zante, 
Corfu,  Ithaca,  and  Athens,  with  unbounded  enthu- 
siasm and  gratitude.  He  addressed  them  in  their  own 
tongue,  and,  as  he  himself  has  related,  was  not  merely 
cheered  but  kissed  by  certain  of  his  audience.  Among 
the  Christian  population  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula  the 
names  of  Gladstone  and  Freeman  are  desei'vedly  re- 
garded as  household  words. 

The  greatest  impeachment,  in  my  opinion,  of  the 
soundness  of  Mr.  Freeman's  political  judgment,  was 
his  justification  of  the  annexation  of  Alsace-Lorraine 
—  I  beg  a  thousand  pardons,  Elsass-Lothringen  —  by 
the  Germans  at  the  conclusion  of  the  Franco-German 
war.  He  boldly  argued  that  Germany  was  entitled  to 
rend  from  France  a  portion  of  territoiy  which  had  once 
been  Teutonic,  whatever  the  inhabitants,  who  were 
notoriously  French  in  sympathy,  might  say  to  the  con- 
trary. The  consent  of  the  governed,  the  necessary 
condition  of  free  government,  was  nowise  needed  when 
the  precious  Teuton  had  his  fish  to  fry.  Now,  I  admit 
that  France  had  many  offences  at  her  back  for  which  it 
was  right  that  she  should  atone  ;  but  had  the  ' '  man  of 
blood  and  iron"  and  the  Majesty  of  Prussia  none? 
What  of  bleeding  Poland  ?  what  of  Silesia  ?  what  of 
Hanover?  what  of  Schlcswig-Holstein?  All  this  Pan- 
Teutonism  conveniently  overlooked.  And  what  has 
been  the  result  ?  A  war  of  revenge  has  been  rendered 
a  dead  certaint}'. 


300    EMINENT  LIBERALS  OUT   OF  PAHLIAMBNT. 

"  Out  of  evil  evil  flourishes  ; 
Out  of  tyranny  tyranny  buds." 

An  imperial  despotism  has  been  established  in 
Germany,  at  least  as  detestable  as  that  which  Louis 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  set  up  in  France.  The  iron  of 
that  tyranny  has  entered  into  the  very  soul  of  the 
German  people,  and,  so  long  as  it  can  be  pretended 
that  a  Gallic  revanche  is  possible,  there  will  it  remain. 
How  Mr.  Freeman  could  have  justified  such  a  palpable 
sowing  of  dragons'  teeth,  I  have  never  been  able  to 
fathom. 

In  1868  Mr.  Freeman  contested  Mid-Somerset  in  the 
Liberal  interest,  but  without  success.  His  failure,  I 
consider,  was  a  public  loss  of  no  small  magnitude.  He 
is  a  good  speaker,  and  his  special  knowledge  would,  on 
many  occasions  in  recent  sessions,  have  been  of  the 
highest  utUity  in  Parliament.  For  five  and  twenty  years 
he  was  a  "  Saturday  Reviewer,"  and  he  wrote  much  in 
"The  Pall  Mall  Gazette"  in  its  more  Liberal  days. 
The  House  of  Commons  contains  no  member  who,  as  a 
student  of  constitutional  history,  could  compare  for  a 
moment  with  the  author  of  the  ' '  Norman  Conquest, ' ' 
the  "History  of  Federal  Government,"  and  "Com- 
parative Politics."  Any  legislature  might  well  be  hon- 
ored by  the  presence  of  such  a  scholar,  and  any  con- 
stituency in  the  kingdom  might  be  proud  of  such  a 
representative. 


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